The First Summer
by Short Moose
Summary: A second opinion couldn't hurt, right? Especially one from Reed Richards. This is part 2/10 of the Andi Hojem series. I don't own anything, save for a few plot points here and there. -ShortMoose-
1. Chapter 1

Shit! I am so late! I thought as I ran throughout my house, trying to get ready for the meeting. Mr. Hawkins had filled out the papers to adopt me, and today was approval and signing day. I grabbed a long sleeved green button down shirt and a pair of black high heels from my closet and ran downstairs. I had just gotten the shirt completely buttoned and was about to slip on the shoes when the phone rang.

Lord of the Flies I'm going to kill someone. "Hello?" I answered the phone, hiding my anger.

"Is this Andrea Hojem?"

"Yes, who's this?" I kept the phone between my shoulder and ear while I finished getting ready.

"Dr. Reed Richards, you sent me the blood sample."

"Right, right, how did that go?" I quickly brushed my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.

"It went well. So well, in fact, that I would like you to come to New York. I would appreciate it if I could do more tests on you."

I stopped. "Uh, look can I call you back in an hour or so? I'm late for a meeting."

"Sure."

I hung up the phone, threw it onto the couch, and teleported to the Freeman Community Center, that's where this was going down.

"You're late." Bruce Wayne said to me as he saw me appear.

"I know and I'm sorry. I got a phone call from Reed Richards."

"Seriously?" Robert Hawkins, who was standing next to Bruce asked as we entered his office.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later." The woman who was going to change everything stood up as we came in.

"You understand this adoption means that Mr. Wayne will no longer have any hold over what happens to you?" She asked me about fifteen minutes later.

"Yes."

"Do you understand this, Mr. Wayne."

"Yes, I do."

"Mr. Hawkins, do you understand?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, may I please speak with Miss Hojem alone?"

"Sure." The two grown men answered and the got up and left the room.

"I just want to ask you some simple questions."

"They can't be in here for that?" I wasn't exactly comfortable with this lady.

"I wanted to make sure that they weren't influencing your answer in any way. Now, your full name is Andrea Lotus Wayne, correct."

"Yes."

"You were born on February 2, 1990?"

"Yes."

"Meaning that you are seventeen years of age?"

"Yes."

She pulled out a piece of paper from the pile on her lap. "I have a statement here that you told Mr. Hawkins you were sixteen. Why?"

I shrugged. "I didn't want him to think that I was held back for being stupid, because I'm not. I moved around a lot when I was little and somehow missed a year of school."

"Were you born in Gotham General Hospital?" Back to Twenty Questions.

"Yes."

"Was your biological mother Emily May Gardner-Hojem, your biological father Thomas Bruce Wayne, and your surrogate father Jefferson Michael Hojem?"

"Yes."

"Is it true that you have been to over one hundred and twenty foster homes in the country?"

"Yes."

"Is it true that you have run away from most of those homes?"

"Yes."

"And what makes this home any different from them?"

"I love the Hawkins family and they love me."

The woman was quiet for a minute before she said loudly, "Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Wayne, you can come in now." The two men came in and sat down next to me like before. "Mr. Hawkins, I have no reason to believe that this girl will stay with you long than three weeks, so I have no legit reason to sign her off to you. Mr. Wayne, why do you feel that giving Andrea to Mr. Hawkins is the better choice than adopting her yourself?"

"I personally believe that living with a supportive family in a neighborhood where there is actual grass is better than living in a lonely mansion with a billionaire playboy." Well done, Brucie.

"Mr. Hawkins?"

He smiled. "I agree with Bruce, completely."

The woman just sighed, took out a pen from her coat pocket and started signing papers. "Miss Hojem, if you run away from this family, the next place I will send you will be Juvenile Hall. Do you understand?" She stared coldly into my eyes.

"Yes."

The woman sighed again and handed the papers over to Mr. Hawkins. "Thank you, Judge Sanders."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"Dr. Richards?" I asked the speaker in one of Wayne Enterprises board rooms.

"Yes?"

"This is Andrea Hojem with my father Robert and my brother Bruce. If you couldn't guess you're on speaker phone."

"Hello Robert, Bruce."

"Hello." They both said, but not at the same time.

"If you could, would you please describe in detail what you want me to come to New York for?"

"I would like to continue Mr. Fox's trials, except on the actual human subject and not a rat."

"So, you want to give me cancer?"

"Theoretically, yes."

I barely took a second to think about it. "I'm in. But only if they say I can be."

"Dr. Richards," Mr. Hawkins started. "What if you do give her an illness, but her healing doesn't work and she's infected?"

"Then we get her the best medical treatment possible." Mr. Hawkins looked at Bruce who just remained quiet.

Then, "I say we let her go."

"Why?" Mr. Hawkins inquired.

"Can't learn anything unless you take risks."

And Mr. Hawkins nodded. "Okay, you can go."

I smiled. "Thank you. How long will I be there, Dr. Richards?"

"If everything goes according to plan, eight to ten weeks. At most."

"I think we can deal with that. I'll be there tomorrow."

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone.


	2. Chapter 2

"JOHNNY!" Sue Storm yelled at her younger brother when she found him sleeping at two in the afternoon the next day.

"Mm, what?" He groaned as he covered his face with his blanket.

"I asked you to get cleaned up for our guest two hours ago!"

"We're having a guest over?"

"YES! We talked about this over dinner last night!"

He rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "Look, I'm up, okay?"

"Erg! She's going to be here any minute, Johnny! And you don't even resemble clean."

"I'll take a quick shower and meet her after she gets here, okay? Stop freaking out." She stormed out of his room and he got up and headed towards the bathroom.

But he never got there. "Excuse me?" A voice asked behind him. He turned around and stared wide-eyed at the female walking towards him. "Does Dr. Richards live here?" Johnny didn't answer her, he just looked her over: Short, about five one; almost black, short hair; mysteriously dark eyes; nice figure; good complexion; high cheek bones...

"OI!" She yelled at him to get his attention. "Does. Reed. Richards. Live. Here?"

"You must be Andrea." A relived man came up from behind Johnny and shook the girl's hand.

"Thank God, a familiar voice." She smiled and Reed started to pull her towards his lab when she turned back to the other man. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's just awestruck."

"I'm that stunning?"

"Apparently so."

* * *

"Okay," Reed began as we sat down in his lab. "I just want to ask you a couple of questions so that I can have the information on file." I nodded. "Alright, what is your full name?"

"Andrea, Lotus, Hojem-Wayne-Hawkins...There's two hyphens."

"Right, what is your date of birth?"

"February 2, 1990."

"Making you seventeen?"

"Yes."

"Have you taken any drugs within the last year?"

"Yes, there was a hallucinogen in November and sedative at the same time."

Reed raised an eyebrow as he wrote that down. "Are you pregnant?"

I chuckled, "No."

"How tall are you?"

"Five foot one, even."

"And how much do you weigh?"

"One hundred and twenty-two pounds."

"Is that your natural hair color?"

"Yes."

"Do you wear contacts or glasses?"

"No."

"Tell me in detail what your powers are." He flipped a page in his notebook and got ready to write a novel.

"I have control over plants and the weather. I can make it rain with a single thought, and I can make a tree grow from a seedling to a giant oak in about two minutes. I can teleport to any place on the planet as long as I focus. Which is how I got here, by the way, so I was excited when I found out I was in the right place. I can also heal others and then in turn heal myself. Uh, I can heal myself without having to heal someone else, and depending on how bad it is, I can do it in under ten seconds."

"Good, good, now how old were you when you got your powers?"

"A month old."

"How did you get them?"

"I inhaled a gas, people from my neighborhood call it 'Bang Gas', and I don't know if it changed my genetic code or if it added onto it, but it gave me my powers."

He just nodded. "Do you have any allergies?"

"I'm lactose intolerant. What does that have to do about anything?"

"Nothing, Sue just wants to make you a nice dinner tomorrow." We laughed. "If you like, we can get started right now."

"Sure, what do we do?"

"I would like to do a run-of-the-mill physical." And then he got a little figity. "This is going to sound a little strange, but most of the exam would be easier on me if you wore...tighter clothing."

I only smiled. "Tank top and shorts it is." I teleported from my seat to my duffel bag, which I had left by the door, grabbed a black tank top and a green pair of shorts and headed to the nearest empty room to quickly change. Locking the door, I changed as quickly as I could, but unfortunately it wasn't quick enough.

"Who ever's in there, you better unlock this door right now!"

I had just pulled up my shorts when the man yelled, so I gathered up my pants and hoodie and opened the door. I could only smile at what I saw. "It's you again. Nice towel."

The man from before was standing in the doorway, dripping wet with only a towel hanging around his waist. "Can I have my room back?"

"Only if you tell me your name."

All of a sudden, the water started to evaporate off of his body and he became almost instantly dry. "Johnny Storm."

"Andi Hojem, nice to meet you." We slowly switched places, looking each other over as we did so. When we had successfully switched, I said. "Nice 'A'." I looked at the tattoo on the outside of his upper right arm.

"Nice flower." Obviously, the tank top didn't cover my right shoulder blade.

"You don't like my leaves?"

"The flower's prettier." he gave me a wink and shut his door.

I smiled and headed back to Reed's lab. "We ready to do this?"

Reed saw my skin, "Not quite. Tell me about these." He gently grabbed my arm and started examining it.

"They're vines. They were a side effect of the gas." I made the vines on the arm he had a hold of to come off. "It's just another plant for me to control."

"Do they all come together somewhere?"

I turned around to show him my back. "There's a flower on my right shoulder blade, although it doesn't make any sense. Lotus flowers don't grow ivy leaves."

"Lotus, what a coincidence."

"It's more like twisted fate to me." He raised an eyebrow. "I've been told that my mom was a wannabe botanist, and the lotus was her favorite flower. It kind of makes you think that it was all planned."


	3. Chapter 3

"Bruce?" Mr. Hawkins asked him during their usual Saturday morning coffee the next day.

"Yes Robert?" They had started these weekly meetings to get to know each other when they had decided to tie me down to a family.

"Why did you tell Andrea that she should go?"

Bruce shrugged, "Who am I to tell her she can't learn more about herself?"

"True." Robert nodded and then went back to sipping his coffee.

Unfortunately, Bruce started thinking, "Although, I'm not too keen on her spending the summer with Johnny Storm."

"Why not?"

"He's a Don Juan, and she's a fresh face. He's probably going to hit on her, and she'll fall for it cause he's dreamy. If he breaks her heart, I swear I'm gonna kill him." He nonchalantly took a bite from the scone in front of him.

Mr. Hawkins only nodded. "I'll hold him down."

That caused Bruce to laugh, which only made Robert laugh. "It's a deal." Bruce said as the two shook hands in agreement.

* * *

"How much longer?" I asked with almost no breath as I ran at full speed on the treadmill.

"Just a few more seconds." Reed was staring at the stats on the large screen in his lab. "Okay," he pressed the STOP button. "You can stop."

I sat down on the treadmill and closed my eyes while Reed came over and checked my pulse. "So what's the diagnosis?" I panted.

He just gave me this uncertain look. "Your heart rate is normal."

"Agatha Christie," I groaned as I laid back against one of the hand rails. I took a breath, sat up and opened my eyes. "Where do we go from here?"

When he saw my eyes, got really close to my face to examine them. "Dr. Richards, you're in my personal space." I warned him.

"You're eyes have turned green." He was spooked when they melded back into brown. "Holy Moses, they went back to brown."

"They turn green when I heal. I don't know why." I pushed him away slightly.

"But you're not healing." Then Reed sat back and thought. "You said that the vines were a result of the gas, and that you control them?" I nodded. "And when they come off of your arms, they just become regular plants?"

And then I hopped onto his thought train. "And plants have photosynthesis-"

"-And your heart rate was normal because they make energy-"

"-I was just using up the extra energy-"

"-That's why you can heal-"

"-Because plants make cells! YES!" We high-fived each other with huge smiles on our faces.

Reed was practically breathless. "That was exciting." He stated plainly.

"Yes it was."

Johnny came running into Reed's lab. "We got trouble in the Bronx."

"There's always trouble in the Bronx." I answered for Reed.

He rolled his eyes. "It's bigger trouble."

"I'll be right there." Reed said to him, and he left us. "Look, we have to go."

"Do I have to go?" I really didn't feel like fighting someone right now.

"Nope. You can stay right here." He finally got up and helped me to stand. "We'll be back in a little bit, okay?"

"Yeah. Go have fun with that." And then Reed followed Johnny.

* * *

Bacon, olive oil, lean beef, flour, salt, pepper, mushrooms, celery, onion (chopped), beef broth, barley, carrot (chopped), potato (sliced), peas. That didn't sound too difficult.

Following the recipe, I threw the beef pieces in a large sauce pan along with 3 tbsp of flour, ½ tsp of salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper and stirred it. After, I added the already cooked and diced four strips of bacon along with 1 tbsp of olive oil, 8 ounces of chopped mushrooms, 1 cup of sliced celery, and 1 ½ cups of chopped onions. While I let that cook for forty-five minutes on high, I chopped up the potatoes and carrots.

Why was I making the dinner that Sue had planned to make me? Cause I got bored. They had been gone for hours, does it really take this long to take care of trouble in the Bronx? I threw the rest of the ingredients in, stirred it, and let it sit for another fifty minutes. While I waited for dinner to finish, I watched the last hour of _A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum_ on AMC; yay Michael Crawford.

Since I was still the only one home, I set the table for five, and started eating my serving. Where in Zero Mostel's name were they? Fortunately enough, I didn't have to wait for another life form any longer, because Johnny came through the door soaking wet.

"Don't say a word!" He shouted as he stormed towards his room. I just rolled my eyes and kept eating as if nothing had happened. A few minutes later, he came back (changed into a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt) and sat down at the table with me. He helped himself to the stew in the middle of the table, and his bad attitude melted away when he tasted the warm food.

"This is good." He mumbled to me.

"Thank you."

"Sorry I yelled."

"It's okay." I looked up from my bowl and looked at him. "Wanna tell me why you were mad?" I said softly, so as not to set him off.

"They deserted me." He said into his bowl.

"What do you mean?"

"Reed, Sue, Ben, and Alicia went on a double date after the fight with that skrull Paibok.. They left me to fly back here, and it started raining." Poor Johnny, he's pouting.

Oh jeez, it's turning into a puppy face. "Would you like to have a stay-at-home date with me?"

He scoffed. "I don't need a pity date."

"It's not a pity date," I reassured him. "I just want to get to know you better."

He thought about it for a few minutes. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about a movie?"

"What kind of movie?" Yay, he was interested.

"Any genre you want."

"Comedy."

"Fabulous! I have comedies coming out the wazoo." I stood up from the table and reached my hand out towards him. "Come on."

"What?"

"Grab my hand." I smiled at him, and he reluctantly got up and took my hand. I teleported us to my house, and led him to the cabinet by the entertainment center and opened it to showcase all of my movies. "Take your pick."

* * *

For the second time that night, I watched the last hour of _A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum_. Johnny picked it, not me. But non the less, I still laughed at the nonsense.

"Where did you get this movie?" Johnny chuckled at the absurdity of the character's lines.

"We watched it in Latin, and I liked it. I got it at FYE."

"Nice." He whispered as if he wasn't paying attention.

He was completely engrossed in the movie, I was actually kind of surprised. I took that opportunity to finally give him a good look that wasn't territorial. Good looking, great eyes, nice hair...he definitely had potential.

He chuckled again. Great Caesar's Ghost he had a beautiful smile. Alright, I'll admit it, he was so far perfect. But I would never tell Bruce. God only knows what he would do if he found out.


	4. Chapter 4

"No, that's going too far." I shook my head at Reed the next morning.

"How is this going too far?" He simply didn't understand my unwillingness.

"It just is, please find another way."

"But this sample is airborne. How else are we going to infect you without infecting the whole building?"

"I don't know, but find a different way. I'm not getting inside that box."

Out of nowhere, Johnny came in. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." I said to him, still staring at Reed.

"No we're not; Andi won't get in the box."

"Tattle tale." I mumbled to myself as Johnny came over to me.

"Is there any reason you don't want to get in the box?" What a stupid question.

And then, I told him the one thing I tell people even less often than my age. "I'm claustrophobic." I whispered. "Bad."

He nodded in understanding, "Reed, is there any other way to do your experiment without the box?"

"No."

Johnny thought for a quick second. "How dangerous is this test?"

"It's plague." I said bluntly.

He hissed. "Yeah, I don't want to get the plague. Uh, I'll make a deal with you. If you stay in there for ten seconds, I will treat you to the best dinner you've ever had." He smiled. How could I resist?

"Just you and me?"

He nodded. "Just you and me."

I stared into those pulchritudinous (Yay, school word!) eyes and nodded. "Okay."

"Alright then." Johnny smirked and led me into the box. "I'll be right here when you come out." He didn't close the door though. "Reed, why don't you set everything up so that Andi doesn't have to suffer in here." He winked at me and I only laughed.

A minute or so later, Reed said, "We're all good."

"Ten seconds." Johnny reminded me.

I nodded. "Ten seconds." He closed the door, and Reed immediately started the procedure. "One...Two...Three...Four..." I counted out loud to myself as I breathed deep and slow to keep from freaking out. "Five...Six...Seven...Eight...Nine...Ten." Reed had shut down the gas at Nine, and Johnny opened the door immediately, catching me when I started hyperventilating.

"You're alright, Johnny's got you. It's okay." He started to pet my hair when Reed gave him a pretty scared look.

"Johnny, that's dangerous." He mouthed to his soon-to-be brother-in-law.

He shrugged it off, and let me up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I was still shaky, but I made it up on my own.

"Come on," Reed led me over to another room in the lab. It had a bed, a shower, and a television. That's it. "We have to get you to quarantine before we're infected." When he had locked me in, he turned to Johnny. "Why are you being so nice to her?"

"She was nice to me last night when you guys went to dinner." Reed raised his eyebrow as they looked through the observation window. "We had a date. She cooked dinner and we watched a movie. It was no big deal."

Reed only sighed. "Johnny you can't like her like that. She's not going to be here forever."

"I don't think of her like that at all." He defended himself. "She's just a friend." I am such a bad liar, he thought to himself the moment it left his mouth.

* * *

"Hey Mr. Hawkins." I said into the phone that Reed had slipped me later that day.

"How are you doing, Andi?" He said lightly as he sat at the kitchen table with Virgil.

"As fine as I was expecting." I moved the phone away as I started a bout of coughing. Oh geez, there's blood. I hit the window, getting Reed to come over, I pointed to the little pool, and he just nodded.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just had a coughing fit. It's nothing serious."

Then Virgil grabbed the phone. "Andi, I'm going to the comic book store with Richie after dinner, you wanna sneak away and come?"

"I wish I could. But I've got the plague. I'm in quarantine right now." Why lie to him? There was no point.

"Are you serious?" Mr. Hawkins voice almost yelled into the receiver.

"_Y. pestis_ all the way."

I heard Mr. Hawkins sigh. "This was your choice."

"I know it was." I coughed again. "Tell Virgil I'll sneak out next week."

"I will. Good bye, Andi."

"Bye, Mr. Hawkins." I hung up and tossed the phone onto my pillow. Reed came in a few minutes later in a face mask and rubber gloves.

"Time for your temperature." He put a thermometer in my mouth. "One-oh-one point four. Bloody cough. Do you have any pain?"

"I have a headache, but that's about it."

"On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst."

"Uh," Ow, pain. "Six, maybe."

"How long have you had the headache?"

"A couple hours." I barely got that out before I turned my head away from him and vomited.

"Blood in the vomit." He mumbled to himself as he sat me up from leaning over. "Muscle weakness."

"Oh, mea stomachus." I said to myself in Latin and I cradled my stomach. "Plague is not as fun as I thought it would be."

He scoffed at me. "You thought plague was going to be fun?"

"Better than this. Oh Mary Poppins I'm gonna puke again." I leaned over and yet again vomited. "That doesn't look right." I was staring at the new puddle, and I watched as little green blobs that were there actually move and come together. When they all came together, the puddle glowed bright green slightly, then all of the green blobs went away.

"That...wasn't natural." Reed stared intently.

"You think?" I spat at him. And then it hit me. "I'm back to being mean. I must be better, give me that thermometer." I snatched it from his hand and put it back in my mouth. "Ninety-eight point six."

"How is that even possible?"

I shrugged. "I just usually go with it. Does this mean I can come out now?"

"I want to keep you in here for the night. Just in case."

"Can we get someone to clean this up? I don't want to smell it all night."

"I actually want to get a sample-"

"Well get it now." Reed left the room and grabbed a sample jar and took some of the bloody bile on the floor. When he was finished, I waved my hand and the vomit disappeared. "Can I get a candle?" Unfortunately, the smell was still lingering.

"Where did send it to?"

"The dump." I thought Reed was supposed to have common sense.

* * *

That night, AMC was playing _Steel Magnolias_. Strangely, Johnny took the necessary precautions: a mask and gloves, and he watched with me. I didn't know he liked chick flicks.

"_...I'm supposed to go first! I've always been ready to go first!"_ Sally Field cried on the screen.

Johnny had this terribly sad look on his face, yet he seemed astonished. "I think I love her."

I just looked at him. "You can't have Sally Field."

He shook his head. "Don't care. I love her."

I shrugged. "Okay."

After a few minutes, he asked, "When do you want to go to dinner?"

"Whenever is good for you."

"How about Friday?"

"Friday's good."

He nodded. "It's a date."

I smiled shyly, but swallowed it fast. Alright, I'll admit it, he's better than perfect. I'd never tell him though, it would only add to his ego.

"Is it going to be formal?"

"Yes. So you have to wear a nice dress."

"Okay." Shoot, I have to go shopping. I hate shopping.


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you guys think?" I twirled for Virgil and Richie in a dress shop two days later. I was wearing a black halter cocktail dress whose straps came up above the bust and then separated and tied behind the neck.

"It looks nice to me." Richie smiled.

"Yeah, it looks really good." Virgil nodded.

"Good, cause I'm gonna get it." I beamed as I went back into the dressing room.

Richie leaned over to Virgil when I disappeared and whispered, "How did she drag us here again?" I had taken them to a small dress shop in the city, and I bribed the dressmaker to close down for fifteen minutes. Yes, it sounds sketchy but I had spoken some fancy words and then dot dot dot...

He shook his head. "I'm not sure." Then he said loud enough for me to hear. "Why do you need a new dress anyway? I thought you liked that blue one."

"I'm going to a formal dinner and I wanted something new. Is that a crime?"

"Who're you going to dinner with?"

"Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben and his girlfriend Alicia." So I lied a little.

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, they just wanted to go out to dinner."

* * *

After I got back to the Baxter Building, I barely got to relax for three minutes before Reed dragged me into his lab.

"W-HY, are we doing this?" I growled through clenched teeth as the big-ass needle dug into my hip bone.

"I just wanted to take a look at your bone marrow, that's all." Reed reasoned as he started to suck out the thick red liquid.

"Painless my ass!" I yelled as Reed accidentally moved the around needle a bit.

"What's going on in here?" Ben Grimm asked as he came in to see what all of the yelling was about.

With Ben rumbling in, the needle moved around even more, which only caused more pain. "Dr. Mengele here, is harvesting my bone marrow." I groaned loudly as the vibrating needle a.k.a Ben's footsteps stopped. "Apparently, it's supposed to be painless."

"You gave her an anesthetic, right?" Ben asked Reed, cringing slightly at my cries of pain.

"Yeah, a pretty strong one too."

I practically screamed as Reed took the needle out. I was whimpering and breathing erratically when I said, "Okay Reed, Andi's done for the day. Oh Boo Radley, I can't move."

"I got ya kid." Ben came over and gently picked me up.

"Thanks Mr. Grimm." Ben nodded at Reed and carried me to my quarantined room.

"You can call me Ben."

He laid me down on the bed, and I only smiled and shook my head. "I respect you too much to call you Ben."

"Why?" This kid has only known me for a few days, how could she respect me this much?

"You aren't afraid to go out in public. I'm petrified." That was the first time that Ben noticed my vines. "I can't go outside without covering everything. I have to hide." That was when he realized that she was just like him after the incident in space. "I would kill to have your self confidence." I mumbled as Ben started to leave.

"You just have to accept who you are, kid."

I scoffed. "Like that will ever happen."

* * *

At about one in the morning, two large dark figures walked through the Baxter Building, quietly making their way into Reed's lab. They went to quarantine, and stared at a body through the observation window. One in particular, stared at the girl with so much sadness.

The other noticed, "I don't have to do this, you know."

"Yeah you do, Nate. She has to be warned."

The one called 'Nate' simply nodded, and looked at her. Almost immediately, the girl started to shift in her bed, and her face became contorted.

"I just want to tell her that it's okay." The still unnamed man said.

"You have to wait a year." The unnamed man chuckled slightly. "Come on, we have to get the belt back to Nathaniel."

And with that, the two men disappeared, leaving the girl with her premonition.

* * *

_A professional looking woman with short brown hair and a red suit jacket appeared and said, "Good evening. This is Penny Sanders of CNN, on site of what is now being referred to as The Silver Lantern War. I've been here, at North Meadow, Central Park for six straight hours, and it seems as if our savior is getting nowhere. The brave little girl, known as Arbora, has been risking her life by fighting these 'Silver Lanterns' alone. The US army has tried sending in reinforcements, but they cannot get past the force field that has been keeping the fighting isolated. Fortunately enough, my cameraman and I have had the privilege of being in North Meadow before the force field was put in place. Unfortunately though, the other hundred people that were here were killed when the Silver Lanterns first arrived. This girl, this seventeen year old girl, is right now behind us doing everything she can to try and decimate the number. By our count, there's about fifty-five hundred against her. She's taken down about ten."_

_Then the woman dropped her microphone hand and eyes, and got a sullen look on her face. "Ten, in six hours." She looked up and a tear trickled down her cheek. "We're not getting out of here, are we?"_

* * *

I sat in the corner of my room with my knees tucked to my chest and my arms keeping them close. No, it couldn't be true. Get a hold of yourself, Andi! It was just a dream. But I still didn't move. If it was just a dream, why did it feel so real? Like a déjà vu that I had yet to experience. I didn't know anybody that could see into the future, and I can't do it myself. Nothing made sense... ...I don't know what to do.

"Hey," Johnny poked his head into the room. "You coming to breakfast?"

I shook my head. "No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm not hungry." I didn't move from my spot.

"Are you okay?" He stepped further into the room.

I finally looked up at him. "Yeah. I'm fine." LIAR LIAR LIAR!

"Okay." He said uneasily.

"Really, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream." I put on a fake smile and he bought it, sort of.

"If you need me, I'll be at breakfast." Even more apprehensive than before, he left the room, closing the door softly.

The moment he closed the door, I teleported from my spot to the only person I knew who might help with telling me what the dream meant, even only just a little.

* * *

"Well?"

The blonde, buxom, older woman shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you Andi. I myself have had many dreams that are similar to what you've told me, but I haven't been able to interpret any of them."

I sighed and sat back in the rocking chair in her little stand at the amusement park near Dakota. "Great."

"You know I would tell you if I knew anything."

"Yeah, I know." There was a minute of silence between us before I said, "So how are you adjusting?"

Madame Nura, as she was called, had come to the twenty-first century from the thirtieth to help the Justice League with a pending mission. Unfortunately, the time belt that she had used broke during the mission, and she was now stuck here.

"Better. I'm liking this gig. It lets me relax." She was smiling. Good, at least someone is happy. "I can tell you other things, but for some reason I can't see the War."

"What can you tell me about up to the War?"

She smiled even bigger. "You'll be happy and in love."

"And after?"

"That would be telling."

"Mhm. Will I live through it?"

Nura didn't answer, she just looked at her fake crystal ball and the tarrot cards that really didn't mean anything.

"Right." I got up from my chair. "See ya."

"Bye."


	6. Chapter 6

"Franklin Square!" The bus driver shouted and four people stood up and stepped off. I sat six rows back on the right side with my head against the window. I've been sitting alone on this bus since nine this morning; that was six hours ago. Why was I sitting all alone? I was thinking. I couldn't get that dream, nor Nura's words out of my head. They just kept repeating over and over.

"Mind if I sit here?" A man's voice made me turn my head.

"No, go ahead." He sat down, and gave me a once over.

"Are you okay?" This time I actually gave him a good look. Dark hair, dark eyes, nice beard, great looking.

"Uh, no not really." Maybe talking to a complete stranger will help.

"What's the problem?"

"I...just found out that I'm going to die." Just stretch the truth a little, no need to alarm anyone.

"Are you sick?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What do you got?"

"Brain tumor. I got about a month left." I'd kill for a brain tumor. "I'm trying to find a way out of it."

"I know someone that can help with that."

"Who?"

"His name's Colonel William Stryker. Or as I like to call him, Colonel Douchebag." I chuckled. "But, he can't help with your problem, because you don't really have a brain tumor, do you?"

"No."

"Come on, what's the real problem?"

I sighed, "I had this dream where I'm fighting in a war. And as far as I know, there is no upcoming war. So I went to my friend, who has premonitions, and she couldn't interpret it. But, she told me that I was going to die from it."

"You can't always believe fortune tellers-"

"She's not a fake, Nura is the real deal."

"Nura Nal?" How could he possibly know her?

"Yeah."

"You're right, she is the real thing. Listen, I know of two people that _may_ have a connection that _might_ help you."

"Give them to me."

The man looked around and lowered his voice. "Alright. First is Charles Xavier, he runs a school in Westchester for 'gifted youngsters'."

"'Gifted youngsters'?"

"Mutants."

"Okay, continue."

"Next is Colonel Nick Fury. Another Colonel Douchebag." I smiled again. "He's the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. It stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. He's got a lot of people that might be able to help."

"Now, who's William Stryker?"

"A crazy man with crazy theories and experiments. Unfortunately, they work. He's trying to 'cure' mutants."

And then I came to my senses. "Who are you? And why are you telling me all of this?"

"The name's Hannibal." He stuck out a hand and I took it.

"Andi."

"New Hyde Park!" The bus driver yelled as he stopped.

"That's me." I said as I got up from the seat. "It was nice to meet you, Hannibal, and I hope to see you again."

"Good-bye, Andi." He smiled as I got off. The moment the bus door closed, he pressed a button on his belt and disappeared.

* * *

I opened the door to the main living space of the Baxter Building several hours later. And by several, I mean it's almost midnight. Have I really been gone all day? I slowly walked into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Johnny sitting on the couch in a suit.

"Oh Johnny, I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't matter." He mumbled as he got off the couch and didn't look at me as he sulked to his room.

"Johnny!" I called after him, but he didn't turn around. I sighed and looked towards the kitchen. There was a whole set up: two candles, a bouquet of flowers in a vase, and two set places on the table.

Getting a quick idea, I hurried to my room, got all dressed up like I had planned to, and I walked to his room. I knocked on the door gently, and opened it before he could protest.

"Can we still have dinner?" I whispered as I stared at him sitting on the edge of his bed.

He looked up to me, "Only if you tell me why you stood me up."

I came over and sat down next to him. "I didn't mean to-"

"But you did."

That cut off startled me a little, "Look, I had a nightmare last night. It seemed like a portent, so I went to see my friend about it. She has premonitions all of the time. But she couldn't interpret it for me, and so I sat on a bus and thought."

"All day?"

I nodded. "All day."

"Did you come up with anything?"

I chuckled to myself as I said, "Nope."

"So I was stood up for nothing?"

I nodded. "Pretty much." Great, now I'm feeling guilty again.

He was still for a minute before he grabbed my hand and stood up. Without a word, he pulled me into the kitchen and lit the candles he had long ago blown out.

"I'll-" He silenced me by placing a finger to his lips, and I only smiled at him. He led me to my chair, sat me down, and pushed it in before he grabbed two plates from the refrigerator. Johnny heated them up with his hands, set them down on the table, and sat down across from me.

We didn't talk during dinner. We just exchanged looks, smiles, and blushes. If he wants to play the silent game, I was more than happy to play it with him.

We finished about twenty minutes later. As he started to get up, I help up my hand to stop him and he quietly sat back down. _I_ got up and cleared the table, and when I had placed everything in the dishwasher, he wrapped his arm around my waist and led me into the living room where he pressed 'play' on the stereo, and a soft and slow song began. I smiled and blushed more than ever as Johnny spun me around and we danced. It felt so wonderful to let my guard down like this, even for only a few minutes. When the song ended, Johnny pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my waist while I laid my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. Another song started and we spun slowly. I took a small breath, and got his scent stuck in my head: burning ash. It didn't smell bad though, it actually smelled very good.

"You're so warm." I mumbled and he smiled against my hair.

"I think someone's tired."

I shook my head. "No, no I'm up." That only caused him to smile bigger. I looked up from his shoulder, "You have the most gorgeous eyes." I mused and his smile just kept growing.

"Let's get you to bed." He bent down, lifted up my knees, and carried me to my little corner of the building. Johnny laid me down on my bed and whispered in my ear. "Thanks for the date."

He made to give me a peck on the cheek, but I turned my head at the sound of his voice and our lips ended up touching. He backed away slightly in surprise. But he soon captured my mouth. It was the best kiss I had ever gotten. His lips were so soft, and our lips seemed to fit perfectly together. He didn't force anything as I suddenly became wide awake and slightly opened my mouth to get even more of him. By the time we had pulled apart, he had sat on the bed while I had sat up. His hand had curled around the back of my neck; my fingers ended up running through his hair.

After we had pulled away from each other (only slightly), Johnny was the first to speak, at least between bated breaths. "Goodnight." He whispered loud enough for me to hear, his eyes still shut.

"Goodnight." I mimicked his tone and voice level.

He gave me one last quick kiss before he opened his eyes. I opened mine and we stared at each other for a minute.

"Goodnight." He said again, this time actually getting up from my bed.

"Goodnight." He took that as his exit, and he backed out of the room and went to his.

When he was out of sight, I smiled largely and laid back against my bed. Life was good for that moment, no matter how short that moment might be.


	7. Chapter 7

"So where were you yesterday?" Ben asked me later that morning at breakfast.

I jerked my head up from my cereal when I felt a hand on my knee. I looked to my right over at Johnny and he nodded towards Ben. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat it, please, Mr. Grimm?"

"Where were you yesterday?"

"I was riding a bus."

"A bus?" Everyone but Johnny stared at me in question.

"Yes. But that was after I visited my friend for about fifteen minutes." I nodded.

"So you rode the bus...all day?" Sue asked, still confused. Reed however, didn't seem to mind that much.

"Well not all day, I eventually got off. Then I went to Central Park and sat in North Meadow for a couple hours, and then I walked back here."

"What time did you get in?" Reed asked.

I shrugged. "About midnight."

"What were you doing?" Ben spoke up.

I shook my head at my simple answer. "Thinking."

"About what?" He continued.

"Girl stuff." That got him off the subject.

"Is there anything you wanna talk about?" Sue scared me. She was just like Frieda.

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure I did enough thinking yesterday."

"Well if there's anything, anything at all, you can talk to me." She smiled and I returned it weakly.

"Okay." I nodded, and suddenly tensed at her forwardness.

Johnny lightly patted my knee, trying to calm me down. Thank Morgan Freeman he was sitting next to me.

"So Andi," Reed said after my awkward spell of fear. "I took a look at your bone marrow, and I discovered something quite tremendous."

"What?"

He had the largest of smiles on his face. "You have no specific blood type."

"Excuse me?" Is that even possible?

"You are _the_ universal donor. You can give blood to absolutely anybody."

"So, I'm like...plus or minus O?"

"Exactly."

"Huh, well Reed I think you're wrong." I stood up from the table. "Because my father was A- and my mom B-. That doesn't make O."

"Where do you think you're going?" Ben rumbled as I started to walk away.

"A hospital!" I yelled back to them before I disappeared.

* * *

"This is a very nice thing that you're doing, young lady." The nurse said to me as she swabbed the inside of my elbow.

"Hm." It's too bad I'm doing this for the wrong reason. "Uh, if it isn't too much trouble, could you find out my blood type?"

She smiled as the needle struck me. "It's no problem at all, Sweetie." The nurse let my blood drain and she handed me a cup of apple juice. "Drink this slowly. I'll be right back."

I nodded and she left. "Please let Reed be wrong." I mumbled to myself as I watched the bag fill.

* * *

"What am I going to do?" I asked a I sat in a booth in the cafeteria at the Watch Tower.

"I don't know. I also don't know why you're talking to me." J'onn J'onzz stated as he sat across from me.

I shrugged. "You seem like a person I can talk to."

"Hm." J'onn nodded. "The only thing I can tell you, is to accept the outcome, no matter what."

"That's so cheesy."

He smiled. "Yes it is, but it's also advice you should take."

I pouted slightly. "I don't wanna."

He chuckled. "May I tell you something?"

"Of course." I nodded.

"The more I talk to you, the more I am reminded of my daughter."

I smiled. "Really?"

"Yes."

"What was her name?"

"J'orah Da'anes."

"What was she like?"

"A lot like you. Stubborn, short, intelligent, brave, everything that you are." I sat there, listening in awe at him. "I was absolutely crushed the day she died."

"Who wouldn't be?"

"My wife."

My mouth dropped. "Well why not?"

"She thought that J'orah was the annoying neighbor child." I was still really confused.

"But she was her daughter-" J'onn's sad smile shut me up.

"Let me tell you something," His voice had turned the slightest but raspy. "And this, keep in mind when you're forgiving someone: Everyone has a little Green Arrow in them."

"What do you mean? What did Ollie do?"

I never got my answer. "Andi, so this is where you've been. That's quite...convenient."

I turned around, "Hey John. And what can I do for you today?"

The larger man looked down on me with such sadness. Why was everyone here so sad? "My employers want to speak with you about a job."

"Why would the Guardians of Oa want to speak to me?"

John shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"Liar." I stared at him with hard eyes. "I know when people lie to me, John. But do you know when I'm lying to you?"

"I don't know what they want, I swear."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "What do they want, John."

"I honestly don't know. All I do know, is that Carol Ferris, Indigo-1, and the Saint Walker are coming."

"Who the bloody hell are they?"

"They are the leaders of different Corps that are allied with the Green Lanterns, if only for a little while."

And then it clicked. "This is about the Silver Lantern War, isn't it?"

"How-?"

"Oh, just take me to them!"

* * *

The moment I saw the group of six or seven adults and small people, I said, "I'll do it."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll take care of the Silver Lanterns if you equip me well enough."

The small blue man with hair said in response, "Well, we were going to make you a Lantern, and you would assist these four."

I shook my head. "No. I will not go to battle with these people. It's nothing personal, I just rather not see John die, he's a bright future ahead of him. Give me four rings, green, blue, violet, and indigo, and I will become the most powerful being those Silver fuckheads ever met. Because I will not die, I will not give up, I will not let anyone else be burdened with this. I will be...the perfect soldier, a Marine if you will."

They were all dumbstruck. "Here is the plan: When they land, I will meet them with my four rings and give them a choice. Either leave, or be extinguished. If they leave, everyone will be fine and there will be no blood shed. If not, I swear by my dying breath that I will kill every last one of them."

I stood there, staring at the white haired blue man, and everyone stared at me. Especially John, who had an extremely shocked look upon his face.

The purple woman stepped forward, using her staff as a walking sick, and she said, "That's exactly what we wanted to hear."


	8. Chapter 8

"You teach me and I'll teach you, Pokémon." I sang under my breath as I did the New York Times crossword. Twelve across: Cremate. L-O-I-S-G. Twenty-Seven down: Frosted ______, the cereal. S-G-E-A-L-B.

"What are you doin?" Johnny whispered from two inches to my right.

"OHMYGOD!" I yelled. He laughed at my rather loud expression of surprise. "Can you back up about four inches please?"

"Hm, no." He leaned on my shoulders, looking at the newspaper I had on the table. "So, what are you working on?"

"The New York Times crossword, as if you couldn't tell."

"Why are your words spelled weird?"

"It's Gaelic. The entire crossword is in Gaelic in remembrance of Robert Burns' death day. Oh! _Gaol_."

He took a seat next to me. "I didn't know you spoke Gaelic."

I nodded. "Quite fluently, actually."

"Will you teach me?"

I turned my head towards him. "The whole dictionary?"

"No, like a phrase or two."

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, sure. Um, I'll say the words slowly first, then we'll put them all together, okay? Mostly because everything flows together like it's all one word. Got it?" He nodded. "The first phrase will be very simple: how are you. Kim-mer,"

"Kim-mer."

"Uh, hah,"

"Uh, hah."

"Shiv." I finished.

"Shiv."

"Now say it all together. _Ciamar a tha sibh_."

"_Ciamar a tha sibh_."

"Good. Now, try 'I'm well, thank you'. Hah guh mah,"

"Hah guh mah."

"Tah puh leh-eev."

"Tah puh leh-eev."

"_Tha gu math, tapadh leibh_."

He had slightly more trouble with this phrase, but he got it. "_Tha gu math, tapadh leibh_."

"Now say them both."

"_Ciamar a tha sibh_, and _Tha gu math, tapadh leibh_." He smiled ever so brightly. "Can we do another?"

I nodded. "Sure. Un tuh-r oo,"

"Un tuh-r oo."

"Ghawnh pawk."

"Ghawn pawk."

"_An toi thu dhomh pòg_."

Again, he had just a tad bit of difficulty. "_An toi thu dhomh pòg_?"

I smirked. "Of course I will." With that, I leaned over and caught his lips. It barely took him a second to adjust and start to kiss me back. I could only smile when Johnny pulled me onto his lap.

"I definitely have to remember that." My smile widened as I went in again, but he stopped me just for a second. "Let's go somewhere tonight."

"What did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise."

My smile grew larger. "Is everything a surprise with you?"

"With you it is." His voice was just loud enough for me to hear.

A loud throat clearing ripped the two of us apart. I didn't have to look up to know it was Reed. The toddler's ballet class of his footsteps gave him away. I looked almost shamefully at my knees.

"Johnny can I talk to you?" I had never heard him so mad.

Without saying a word, he got up from his chair and followed Reed to his lab. Stupid, stupid, Andi! I'm tearing them apart, I just know it.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL, JOHNNY?!?!" Reed screamed at him. "I told you to keep your distance!"

"Reed-" Johnny tried to reason with him calmly, but kind of failed.

"NO, Johnny! Andi is **not** one of your playboy girlfriends!"

"I KNOW!" Johnny yelled right back. Reed shut up when Johnny blew up at him. "I DON'T EVEN THINK OF HER THAT WAY!" He took a breath and calmed down just a tad. "Reed, I genuinely like her. She's not at all like the other girls." He scoffed at himself at the next thing he said, "I don't know what Andi did, but she burrowed her way into my head and let me tell you, she made herself comfortable in there."

Reed took a deep breath but it barely calmed him down. "Johnny you cannot like her like that." Reed practically growled.

"Why not?"

"Because you are eight years older than her! That can be considered a lifetime to some people."

"Yeah, cancer kids." Reed gave him the sternest of looks, but it didn't phase him. "Look, Reed," Johnny's voice became very aggressive and territorial. "I do not care what you say. I'm going to continue to like her whether you or I want to or not, because I seriously doubt that she is leaving my head any time soon. So you truly need to back off." With that said, Johnny stalked away from him and back into the now empty kitchen.

* * *

I was walking toward the door to leave when it opened and Sue came in. "Hey!" She said, all smiles.

"Hi." Oh the awkwardness.

"Do you think this is cute? I want you to be completely honest." She twirled around in her barely a dress. It was kind of like a stained glass window, but it was purple, blue, yellow, and white.

"Completely honest?"

"Yes." She smiled brightly.

"Okay, but you wanted honesty. That is absolutely the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Excuse me." I went past her, newspaper and pen in hand, and went towards the stairs. I opened the door to them, and went about half way down before I sat down.

Seven across: All sailors love to drink _____. D-E-O-C-H. Ten down: Nos, in Latin. S-I-N-N.

"Andi?" Ben asked as he came up the stairs.

"Hey, Mr. Grimm, Alicia." I smiled at the two of them.

"Hello, Andi." She said in that very Luna Lovegood tone.

"Whatchya doin' in the stairwell?"

"I just wanted a place to do my crossword."

"Well don't let us stop you, come on Ben." Alicia started leading him away, but he stood his ground.

"Why don't you do it the kitchen?"

I shrugged. "Reed and Johnny are fighting and I didn't want to get in the way."

"Ben, why don't you go ahead, I'll meet you upstairs." He mumbled, 'fine' and went up. "Is it because Johnny likes you?" Alicia asked with a smirk on her face as she sat down next to me.

Without thinking about keeping things secret, I said. "Yeah."

"Do you like him too?"

"Yes, I do."

Her smile got even bigger. "How did Reed find out?"

"He saw us kissing in the kitchen." Fifty-six across: One of the four seasons; eight letters. S-A-M-H-R-A-D-H (winter).

"How mad was he?"

"He started screaming at Johnny, and it made me so angry. But, it also felt like I was ashamed and I don't know why."

Alicia's smile fell. "Are you embarrassed of him?"

I immediately shook my head. "No! No, not at all. Reed's voice just made me feel that way."

"You know, Johnny is a very special guy,"

"I know." I mumbled.

"And for him to fight for you the way he is-"

"Is?"

She pointed up towards the door. "I can hear them yelling at each other." She smiled again. "He really likes you, you know. Look out, he's heading for the stairs."

Two seconds later, the door opened and Johnny came flying down the stairs. "Johnny?" I asked as he flew past us. "Johnny!"

"Not now, Andi!"

"I'll be right back." I whispered to Alicia and I teleported from my spot next to her to the step in front of him. "What is the matter?" I demanded, spooking him.

"It's nothing, just Reed." He replied, mad at the fact that I had stopped him.

"He's just trying to protect you-"

"NO! He's trying to protect _you_."

"Why?"

He began to look sheepish. "I have a-uh, bad reputation with women. Look, I just gotta get out of here."

I held out my hand for him. "Come on, I know a place." He tried to say something, but I cut him off, "It'll be fun."

Reluctantly, but with a smirk, he took my hand and I teleported us away.

* * *

Alicia made her way back upstairs, and found Reed sitting in the living room.

"Hey, Reed."

"Hello, Alicia." His voice was still laced with fury.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" She came and sat next to him on the couch.

"Sure."

"Will you leave them alone? They're happy."

"He's eight years-"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. All that does matter is that they both have deep feelings for one another."

"You know how Johnny is with women."

"Yeah, I know. So does Andi, and she doesn't care. She likes him for who he is; when was the last time he had a girlfriend that liked him because he was Johnny and not because he's the Human Torch?"

"Andi likes Johnny?" Both Ben and Sue asked as they came into the living room.

"And he likes her." Reed filled them in swiftly. "Maybe you guys can talk some sense into all three of them."

"I'll kill him." Ben grumbled.

"No you will not, Ben." Alicia grabbed his arm.

"Then _I'll_ kill him." Sue was stopped by Reed.

"Nope, we are going to sit and discuss."

"For one thing," Sue started off. "He is way too old for her."

"Maybe in today's society, but way back when, girls her age would be married to guys between forty and fifty years old." Alicia defended.

"He's Johnny!" Ben tried to reason with her. "You know how he is."

"He isn't like that with her. In fact, he's trying to make things last with her. Andi isn't just another girl to him, he thinks too much of her."

"He'll cheat." Reed threw in.

Alicia just shook her head. "No he won't. Johnny hasn't seen another girl since she got here. For him, that's devotion."

They were silent after that. After a while, "I just don't like the thought. Andi isn't the kinda girl that Johnny goes for." Ben said.

"Maybe she's the girl he needs." Reed said after thinking for a while. Sue and Ben stared at him in surprise. "Think about it, Johnny hasn't pulled any pranks, hasn't really annoyed us. Ever since Andi got here, he's matured."

"So we're in agreement then," Alicia was smirking. "This relationship is a good thing, and we are all going to keep our noses out of it. Are we clear?"

"Yeah, we're clear."


	9. Chapter 9

"Thank you," Johnny said to me a few hours later.

"For what?" I looked up at him and he grabbed my hand.

"For bringing me to your little slice of the world." I smiled as we walked towards the Ferris Wheel from the photo booth. I had taken him to that little amusement park by Dakota.

"I'm happy to welcome you into it."

He smiled and kissed the top of my head. Looking up, his eyes widened. "Come on," He pulled me into a dark tent and I rolled my eyes.

Oh no, were my only thoughts as we sat across from Nura Nal herself. Her mouth was in a huge 'O' when she saw us holding hands. "Shut up." I mouthed to her.

"Well don't you two look adorable." She smiled so brightly, and it made the two of us blush. "And what can I do for you?"

"How about just a tarot reading?"

"Alright." Nura fanned the cards out on the table and chose four random cards. Flipping the first one over, she said, "Soul-mates." She smiled brightly as she turned over another card. "Desires." Nura winked at me and I blushed so much. But her face dropped a little when the next card flipped upside down, "Broken Friendship." The next card, which was also upside down, really crushed the spirits of the three of us. "Broken Marriage." She looked up at us. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." My head fell to my chest, and Johnny stood up.

"Come on," He grabbed my hand. "This whole spiel is a load of bull. Don't believe it."

I put on a fake smile. "You're right."

He started to pull me away from the tent and I looked back at Nura who mouthed, "I'm so sorry."

"I know." I mouthed back.

* * *

"Don't look into the cards too much." Johnny tried to reason with me as we sat in the Ferris Wheel. "It's not like it's real."

"I know." I lied. "But those cards just made me think, that's all."

"Hey," He moved across the cabin and sat next to me. "Don't worry about it. We are always going to be friends, no matter what. And if we do happen to get married down the road, I won't let it fail."

"Do you mean that?" I stared intently into his eyes.

Johnny smiled. "Yeah." With that, he leaned over and granted me a chaste kiss. I placed my hands on the side of his face and held him there.

"I really want us to stay like this."

He smirked. "Just like this?"

"Maybe not _just_ like this." He chuckled and graced me with another kiss. And then he looked at me. Johnny stared into my eyes like he was staring into my soul. "What?" I couldn't help blushing under his stare.

"Let's go somewhere."

"We are somewhere."

"Somewhere private." He breathed in my ear making me shiver.

It was hard to think when he was doing that. "We could go to my house." I suggested, him leading me out of the gondola and back onto the streets of Adventure Land.

"What about your parents?"

I smirked an evil smirk up at him. "I live alone."

He was definitely on board, and he said, "You're gonna have to explain all of this to me one day."

My smirk turned into a sweet smile. "Today is not that day." And I teleported the two of us to the house that I inherited from my last guardian.

* * *

"What do you mean you've never seen _Happy Gilmore_?" Johnny asked incredulously as we stood in the FYE right next to the Wok and Roll.

"I've never seen _Happy Gilmore_, don't freak out on me." The people at the Wok and Roll had to make more chicken and rice, so we decided to go next door and make it a dinner-and-a-movie.

He just stared. "We are so getting this." He plucked it out of the rack. "In fact, we're getting the Adam Sandler classics." And so we went around the comedy section, him picking out _Little Nicky_, _Billy Madison_, _The Wedding Singer_, _The Waterboy_, _Big Daddy_, and _Mr. Deeds_.

"We aren't going to watch all of these tonight, are we?" He paid for the DVDs, and we walked back to the Chinese restaurant.

"No, we'll watch _Happy Gilmore_ tonight and the rest tomorrow." He smirked at me.

"We'll have two orange chicken with fried rice to-go, please." I ordered for the two of us. "You know, you can't stay at my house forever." I mumbled to him.

"Yeah, I know." He dropped his tone.

Aw, now he's sad. "That doesn't mean you can't stay for the night." I smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. "I'll get this." I paid for our dinner and grabbed the bag. He put his arm over my shoulders as we walked out.

"You know what?" He asked as we walked down the street towards my house.

"What?" I looked up at him and he just squeezed me closer to him.

It seemed as if he couldn't find the right words, but when he did speak, "I really, really...really like being with you."

I couldn't help but blush profusely. "Well I really really _really_ like being with you too."

He squinted his eyes in suspicion. "Really?"

I nodded, all smiles. "Really."

Johnny stopped and gave me this hug. I have never felt so safe and warm in my entire life. Kissing the top of my head, he whispered. "Good."

* * *

"_Son of a bitch! Gimme my ball! Give it here! Cough it up you dirty bastard, I swear to God I'll rip it outta you_!" Adam Sandler screamed at the reptile.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I also couldn't keep laughter from escaping me. I tried to by covering my mouth with my hand, but that failed.

Johnny wasn't even watching the movie anymore. He just stared at me, smiling at my reactions. Not only that, he was gently petting my bare calf as it laid between his legs. I know, it sounds a little sketchy, but I felt like wearing basketball shorts, and it seemed natural for us to be close like this.

"Andi," Johnny started a few minutes later.

"Yeah?" I turned to him.

He smiled as he said, "You have beautiful leaves."

Again, I blushed profusely. It seemed as if that's all I could do while I was with him. "Thank you." My smile stretched so wide that he could see all of my teeth.

And so we stared at each other, knowing exactly what was going to happen next. And surprisingly, I was ready for it. Honestly, I never thought that I would feel this way about someone. Jameson and Shannon really fucked me over, no pun intended.

During the middle of the date scene, I stood up from the couch, grabbed his hand, and started leading him towards the stairs. We were about to reach the second floor, when I turned around and faced him. "Will you stop if I say, 'stop'?"

"I wouldn't have a second thought."

I gave him a quick kiss, and took him to my room...


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, I woke up at six, just because. I carefully slid out of my bed so as not to wake Johnny, and I went to take a shower. After that, I put on a pair of Scooby-Doo boxers and an Animaniacs shirt and headed down to the living room.

Shaking my head as I cleaned up the table from last night's dinner, I couldn't help but smile brightly at the thoughts of last night. He was not the Johnny Storm I read about in the tabloids. It may sound corny, but he was sweet and caring, and everything I needed in person that way. Maybe now the nightmares about Shannon and Jameson will stop, although, I haven't had any since I've been at the Baxter Building. Maybe it was Johnny, it seems like his presence is protecting me from them.

Speaking of the devil, two strong arms wrapped around my waist. "Why are you up so early?" He groaned in my ear.

I shrugged as his head sat upon my shoulder. "I don't know, I just woke up."

"You see, that's when you realize that it's six in the morning, and you fall back asleep."

I laughed and turned my head towards his. "I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Why not?"

"Cause I was thinking of you." He smiled and grazed his lips against mine.

"So what we do now?" Johnny raised his eyebrows suggestively, which only made me laugh more.

It didn't take me longer than a second to think of and say, "Saturday morning cartoons."

His jaw dropped. "I haven't been up for those in years."

"Well if you let me go, I can get the cleanup done faster." I teased him.

He only pouted before he unwrapped his arms from me and headed for the couch. Thirty seconds later, having thrown out the old take-out containers, I joined him. Immediately, he pulled me into his lap and held me tightly. Aw, so protective was he. Johnny grabbed the remote from the coffee table, turned on the television, and started flipping through the channels as he entangled his sweat pant clad legs with my mostly bare ones. He stopped on channel seven, and I laughed to myself when I heard that theme song.

"_I wanna be the very best, that no one ever was…To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause._" The TV sang as I relaxed against him.

"You know something?" I said about ten minutes into the show.

"What?"

"You and Charmander are so alike." He laughed.

"Well you're like Bulbasaur." I felt a challenge coming on.

"Charmander."

"Bulbasaur."

"Charmander!"

"Bulbasaur!"

"Charmander!!"

"Bulbasaur!!"

And then, an impossibly fast knock was on my door. "Come on in, Wally!" I shouted to the man on the outside.

"How'd you know it was me?" The six foot man with fantastically bright red hair and impossibly green eyes asked with a smile.

Oh, I couldn't help it. "You're the only man I know that can bang that fast."

Wally West tried not to smile. "Are you being scandalous with me, young lady?"

"Yes." I said simply.

"Are those my clothes?" He noticed the shirt and boxers he lent me not too long ago.

"Yes. Anymore questions?"

"Who's this bub?" Wally nodded towards Johnny.

"Johnny Storm."

Wally just shook his head. "Bruce is not gonna like this." He teased in a sing-songy voice.

"Bruce _isn't_ going to find out, Wallace." I threatened.

"Andi, you know him better than I do. And you know that he knows **everything**."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "What do you want, Wally? I'm trying to enjoy some Saturday morning cartoons."

"GL wants to see you."

"Why?"

Wally's usual coolness evaporated when I asked. "They landed in Central Park about ten minutes ago."

Damn it. "Johnny, you have to go home."

"No! Not until you tell me what's going on."

I got up off of his lap. "I can't explain it to you right now." I waived my hand at him, and he disappeared.

"That's not a very nice way to treat your boyfriend." Wally said in a matter-of-fact way.

"You know as well as I do that I don't have time for him right now."

Wally sighed. "A little word of advice, Andi, you have to balance work and relationships. Otherwise you'll go mad." He let that sink in a moment. "Now get dressed. GL wants you to meet someone before you head off."

I went upstairs, got on some jeans and a t-shirt, and came back down. "Who am I meeting?"

"Someone named Fury. Let's go." I grabbed his hand and teleported us to the Watch Tower, all the while trying to remember where I'd heard it before.

"Nick Fury?" I asked when we reappeared.

"Yes?" I turned and saw a man about Bruce's height. He was buff, black, and had a crazy eyepatch.

"You're Colonel Douchebag?" Everyone in the room (Bruce, J'onn, Wally, John, Diana, Clark, Indigo-1, Carol Ferris, and the Saint Walker) was grinning, well, all except Fury.

"Well, I've never heard that one before. I just wanted you to know that S.H.I.E.L.D will be looking out for you from now on."

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention something and Logistics Division?"

"Enforcement. And how do you know?" He squinted his eyes in suspicion.

I just smirked up at him. "I have a lot of friends. Now, if you excuse me, I have something important to do." I turned from Col. Douchebag and looked at John. "Do you have the rings?"

"Yeah," he opened his palm and the four rings lay in his hand. "Be careful with these, okay kid?"

"Always." I took them from him, and placed them on my hands: Green and Blue on my right hand, and Pink and Indigo on my left.

Immediately, my body began to glow, and my outfit began to change. Most of the body suit was black, wth different sized green sections running across my waist diagonally, and three blue circles on my right arm; the sleeve covered my right arm and hand completely. The top was a low cut pink triangle, which was connected to a purple section which cut off at a slant on the shoulder, then there was a space, a separate triange piece, another space, and a separate slanted bar, leaving most of my left arm exposed. In the middle of the bust, there was a circle. And in the circle, was a symbol that was the combination of the four Corps. In the very middle was the entire logo of the Star Sapphire's, the pink circle was surrounded by the 'donut' shape from the Indigo Tribe, on the top and bottom of that were the bars of the Green Lantern Corps, and the brackets from the Blue Lantern Corps encased it.

I shuddered after the transformation and Bruce was next to me in a second. "You okay?"

"Oh Sister Carrie there's a lot of power in my hands."

"Which is why you have to be careful."

"How do I control it?" I asked John.

"You have to have the will to do what's necessary." He said.

Indigo-1 stepped up. "You need to have compassion."

Then Carol. "You gotta have love, babe."

And the Saint Walker. "You must have hope, young one."

"What if there is no hope?" Might as well play Devil's Advocate.

"Child," The alien knelt down to my level. "You must never lose sight of what we have told you. For if you do, the rings will be useless, and you will fail."

"That's extremely inspiring." I said, my words oozing with sarcasm.

"Gypsy," Bruce took the spot of the Saint Walker. "I may not like this situation that you're in, but I know you have to go through with it. If you're doing this to protect the world, then don't do it; walk away. The world is too much for one person. If you're going to do this, do it for a few people. Like Virgil and Mr. Hawkins."

Bruce was cupping my face, and I placed my hands on his shoulders. "Hayes, I'm gonna do this for you, and only you." And I hugged him tighter than I ever had.

Fury leaned over to Flash and whispered. "Isn't he a little old for her?"

Wally looked at him, and gave him the deadliest of death glares. "He's her brother, dumbfuck." He whispered back.

"Flash," J'onn warned. "Play nice."

"He asked a stupid question." Wally defended himself.

"Even so." And he came over to me, and put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you ready?"

I pulled away from Bruce and looked up into J'onn's crimson eyes. "Yeah. Let's get this over with."

He nodded, placed his middle finger on my temple and his eyes glowed gold for second. "There, you'll be in constant communication with the Tower."

"Alright y'all," Time to get back to the old Andi. "I'm outtie-five-thousand."

"Hold on," J'onn stopped me. "There's someone here to see you." Out of nowhere, Mr. Hawkins walks in.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you how proud of you I am."

"Please don't." I whispered to him.

"Why not? It's takes a lot to do what you are about to do."

"I know, but you're not going to like what sin I'm going to commit." My head fell, but Mr. Hawkins tilted it back up.

"No matter what you do, Andi, I will always be proud of you." He gave me the most stupendous hug I've ever gotten from him. "Virgil wanted me to give you this." He pulled my green face mask from his pocket and put it on me. "Everything is going to be okay, Andi. You've got this, hands down."

I nodded. "I know. I'm gonna make you proud." And I teleported to Central Park.

"Now who's he?" Fury whispered to Flash.

"That's her adopted father. Keep up, Colonel Douchebag."

"Flash." J'onn warned again.

"Sorry."

* * *

I appeared in front of the glowing dome which landed in by the Rec Center in North Meadow, Central Park. It was bright white, and I wasn't the only person standing and staring at it. There seemed to be a hundred other people just looking at it. Save someone, I told myself, save anyone.

"You guys have to leave! Everyone has to leave!" I shouted to all the people around me. "Get out! Everyone go!" But no one moved. "Come on, people!" And still, no one moved. They were all too hypnotized by the dome.

It was too late. The dome shot out a large beam of white light up to the sky like a water spout, and when that light came back down and fell upon the spectators, they fell over. Dead. Did I get hit? Yes. But to me, it only felt like water. The moment that the people around the dome were all gone, the light ceased, and the dome disappeared. And I came face to face with the Silver Lantern race.

They were like something straight out of an anime version of _Dr Who_. They stood about five and a half feet tall, and were basically grey panthers on two legs; human legs. They also had human arms and hands, but their fingers had long and sharp claws at the ends of them. But their face was pure predator. Oh, and they were nude, except for the glowing cat's eye (with a black pupil) in the middle of their chest. Fuck. Me.

"You. The one who is living." The cat in front of me stepped forward. Why did they sound French? "Who are you?"

"The name's Arbora, and what the fuck are you doing here?" I demanded. That's right, show them you're in charge, I coached myself.

"This is our planet now, child. Stand aside."

"You're wrong there. This is our planet, and you can't stay here."

"Who says? You?" Oh that tone, what an asshat.

"Yes. Me. Either leave now, or every one of you will be dead by dawn." I was just about ready to snap this guy's neck.

He smirked like a douchebag-nine-thousand. Yeah, I know. "Go ahead and try."

Okay, this guy was officially on my 'shit list'. "Fine." I reached up, grabbed the top of his head, and twisted it all the way to the right, effectively snapping his neck. One down, fifty-five-hundred to go. "Who's next?"


	11. Chapter 11

The army stared at me with no emotion. I felt like I was staring at a brick wall. And then the feline next in line shot a beam of light from it's chest, and it fell around in a much larger dome, covering all of North Meadow. Yep, walked right into _that_ stupid premonition.

The cat who created the dome said in probably the deepest voice I've ever heard, "No running, child."

Yeah, I'm never seeing anyone again, am I? "Wasn't planning on it, Fluffy."

"Hm, Fluffy. That's interesting." Did he seriously just say that right after I basically declared war on him?

"So," Oh man, this just got awkward. "We gonna do this or what?"

"Ready when you are." They had to be French; that cat had the snobby-French-rich-guy smirk.

"Okay." Immediately, I threw my right hook and hopefully shattered his jaw. "Ready." Unfortunately, it did not. It barely phased him.

In one swift move, the cat twisted his head around and swung his arm out, gashing my face with his claws and throwing me to the ground. "Just give up, child. You'll bleed out in a matter of minutes, and no one's here to save you."

"I don't need anyone to save me." I growled to the earth and I got up, my face already healing. "Go ahead, try to kill me. I haven't succeeded yet, what makes you think that you will?"

He smirked. "You've never met us." Then the rest of the army smirked the exact same way as he did.

"Well obviously, none of you have met me." With that, I tackled him and began attacking his face: hitting it, scratching it, basically everything I could.

But with an unheard of strength, the cat threw me off of him. I bounced off one of the many trees and looked up at his face. Oh shiznit. They can heal too.

I flattened my hand on the grass, took a deep breath in and out, and made the grass grow around the cat that was currently a pain in my ass. The blades twisted around his legs and pulled him down into the earth, leaving only his head exposed.

I teleported to just in front of his face and said, "Now, are you going to make this a fair fight and have a couple of your cronies attack me, or are we just gonna do this one-on-one forever? Cause I gotta get home by dinner."

Then he smirked again. "You heard her boys, she wants it to be a 'fair fight'."

And all at once, the entire army started running towards me. Unfortunately, the only thing I could do was run…

* * *

...I ran. There were too many of them. It was about five thousand to one. I couldn't handle them all, not even with the four rings. Mostly because I didn't know how to channel the power. They never told me how. "Please, protect me." I whispered and tried to create a force field. I took a minute, but I finally created one. Instead of one solid color, it swirled with violet, indigo, blue and green. I sat on the ground, trying to think of a way to defeat them. The silver people started pounding and beating on the force field. Come on, take a deep breath, just think.

And then it hit me: Every one is counting on me. The whole world is counting on me. If I don't defeat them, they're going to take over the planet. I couldn't do this. I can't concentrate when they're trying to kill me. "J'ONN!" I screamed. I needed help, I couldn't do this on my own.

"Andi, I know you're scared, but you've got to relax." He said into my head.

"I can't relax, J'onn I can't beat them!"

"Yes you can. You are Andrea Hojem, you can do anything."

"I can't even channel the rings."

"You made the force field, didn't you? You can do this." J'onn was always helping me like this.

"How did you-"

"CNN is there."

"You're kidding."

"No."

"How did they get here?"

"Who knows, they're just there. Now breathe." I took a deep breath. "Focus on what you want the rings to do, and then make it happen. If you need me, just call me, and I'll be right there. Well, at least in here."

I took another deep breath. "Okay, I can do this." Closing my eyes, I quickly thought about what to do. When I snapped them open, I thought, "Get out of here, J'onn. You're not going to like what I'm about to do."

"Just get it done." Then he left. I brought my hands together, like I was praying, and concentrated. All of a sudden, the orb glowed bright white and the silver people backed off to see what was going on. I burst from the orb and stood completely engulfed in the four different colors. I stared at the army in front of me, and they stared right back.

They yelled first and charged. I yelled back and ran straight at them. I started punching them and beating at the circle that had formed around me. Every time I hit one, a little jolt would send them flying, but more and more kept coming. Sometimes I would get lucky and hit them either in the neck or the heart. So far, in the past five hours, four had fallen.

* * *

Mr. Hawkins had gone back home and was now sitting in his living room with Virgil and Richie (Sharon and Trina had gone shopping, to get a little 'girl time' in), watching the television. All three of them were sitting on the edge of their seats as they stared wide-eyed at the live feed from CNN.

"Good evening." The television said, "This is Penny Sanders of CNN, on site of what is now being referred to as The Silver Lantern War. I've been here, at North Meadow, Central Park for six straight hours, and it seems as if our savior is getting nowhere. The brave little girl, known as Arbora, has been risking her life by fighting these 'Silver Lanterns' alone. The US army has tried sending in reinforcements, but they cannot get past the force field that has been keeping the fighting isolated. Fortunately enough, my cameraman and I have had the privilege of being in North Meadow before the force field was put in place. Unfortunately though, the other hundred people that were here were killed when the Silver Lanterns first arrived. This girl, this seventeen year old girl, is right now behind us doing everything she can to try and decimate the number. By our count, there's about fifty-five hundred against her. She's taken down about ten."

Then the woman dropped her microphone hand and eyes, and got a sullen look on her face. "Ten, in six hours." She looked up and a tear trickled down her cheek. "We're not getting out of here, are we?"

"Come on, Andi," Mr. Hawkins prayed and Virgil grabbed his hand. "Come on."

"She'll succeed, Mr. Hawkins. Don't you worry. Andi always wins." Richie as well, consoled the older man.

* * *

Ben Grimm was also sitting in his living room, also watching the CNN broadcast. "Everybody! Come here!!" he bellowed.

"What?" Sue came in.

"It's Andi." She stared at the television unbelievingly. "JOHNNY!" She cried.

"What's the matter?" He slowly came into the room, too tired to even care.

"Andi's on the television."

He immediately perked up when he heard my name, but his eyebrows furrowed when he actually saw me. "Where is she?"

"North Meadow, Central Park." Ben grumbled.

"Well then let's go."

"We can't. It's blocked off."

"By the police?"

"No, there's a force field of some sort around it. No one has been able to get through."

"So what do we do?" Johnny asked the two of them.

"Sit and pray." Ben finally spoke again. "That's all we can do, sit and pray."

* * *

Oh God, I'm so tired, I thought a few hours later as I sat in a floating bubble just high enough above the army. I can't go on like this, I need sleep, I rubbed my eyes.

"J'onn? Are you there?"

"I'm right here." I felt his soothing voice echo in my mind.

"I'm so tired. But if I fall asleep, the power might shut off, and then they'll tear me to shreads. I don't know what to do."

"You just have to breathe. Keep calm, and breathe." I started taking deep, shallow breaths. "Good. Now think rationally: what's worked, what's killed them?"

"I think it's the neck. I snapped the one, and the others I hit. But I can't do it to all of them, it would take too long."

"Back on Mars, when the parasites had taken over, my group of rebellions launched a final attack. It was effective, but fatal to everyone but me."

Oh Atticus Finch, I have to sacrifice myself, won't I? "Okay, I know what to do. J'onn, would you tell everyone that I love them?"

"You're not-"

"Promise me that you'll tell them." I said sternly.

A minute or so later, he said, "Fine."

"Love you, J'onn." I didn't wait for him to reply before I let the bubble disappear and I landed back on the earth.

But amazingly I wasn't near any stupid cats. I was actually next to the Recreation Center; how in the name of H. G. Wells did I end up back here? Whatever, doesn't matter, I thought as I ran into the building. I laid against the door, and lowered myself down to the floor.

"Oh my God! It's you!" I turned and saw the woman from my dream.

"You're Penny Sanders, you're the reason I'm on CNN." I could just hit her right now.

"Are you here to save us?" The cameraman asked.

_Save someone, save anyone_, my words from before echoed in my head. "Yeah."

"Could we get a small interview?" He asked, lifting the camera to his shoulders.

"I guess." Dude! You have work to do! I screamed at myself.

Penny turned towards the camera. "This is Penny Sanders for CNN, I'm here at the Recreation Center in Central Park with our hero, Arbora. Tell us, how did you get stuck with this job?"

"I volunteered."

"Why?"

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt by this, but obviously, I failed on that note."

"How do you plan on defeating them?"

I shook my head. "I don't really know." I really should stop lying.

"Is there anyone you want to say 'hi' to?"

I didn't even have to think. "My brothers, my new dad, my best friend, all of my father-figures." I trailed off and started sniffling. "I want you guys to know that I love you. I love you all."

"Why do you sound like you're never going to see them again?"

"That's enough." I said as I shot a blast of wind from my hand and they disappeared. "Alright," I slapped my cheeks and wiped my tears away. "Time to get serious."

Finally ready, I teleported into the fray, all of the felines tearing the fields up, looking for me.

* * *

I grabbed the closet Sliver Lantern and plunged my hands into it's chest. I imagined a huge explosion coming out of the rings, and it happened. The outburst from my rings reacted with the Silver Lantern's power source, and just as expected, it flared into an even larger blast. It pushed me up against the dome, and it incinerated every cat in it's path.

When it finally reached me, it practially burned and (touching the dome) electrocuted me all at once. It seemed as if an entire lifetime had past before it subsided. And when it did the dome had diminished, and I fell completely limp, down the thirty feet and slammed into the ground on my back.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hello, Andi." A man about six foot eight, about four hundred pounds of musle and a glowing left eye said to me in a bright white room. It was the same place that I met Thomas about six and a half months ago. "My name is Nate Summers."

"You know," I sighed as I realized that once again, I really suck at dying. "I'm sick of meeting new people everyday."

"Please, I am hardly a new person to you. You practically raised me as a child."

"Are you in here to thank me? Because J'onn is going to be pissed if he finds you up here." Come on dude, if you're going to tell me something important, do it now, let's wrap this up.

He chuckled at my attitude. "I'm not here to thank you, I'm here to help."

Now that latter clause really set me off. "Everyone's always here help! Why can't you guys leave me alone, and let me live my own fucking life!?! Who ever asked you people to help me, huh?! WHO!"

And with a small, knowing smirk, Nate smiled. "You did."

"Excuse me?"

"Your future self asked all of us to pop in and make sure that you were in the right place at the right time, with the right mindset."

"Why?"

"She wants you to have a better life. Yes, you need to go through the same obstacles, but she wants you to be more protected, to have a better understanding of what's going on around you."

I didn't need to take a second to absorb what he just said. "Who sent me the dream? You?"

"Yes."

"Who was the guy on the bus? Uh…Hannibal?"

"He's going to become your third oldest friend."

"You mean, after everybody dies around me, while I'll still look like a college student!"

"Yes."

"Who exactly are _you_, Natiecakes? What ties do I possibly have with _you_?"

Surprisingly, he was slightly intimidated by my outbursts. "Y-You raised me-"

"WHY! WHY THE FUCK WOULD I EVER RAISE YOU?!"

Nate just couldn't believe it. The woman he thought more of a mother than his own mom, his good friend, his hero, just screamed bloody murder at him. "Because you care about me. About all of us."

My anger had subsided when I heard his 'sad-little-boy' tone. "Who's 'us'?"

"Mutants, metahumans, everybody that's ever come to you for help. You literally care about everyone."

I sighed at his preaching. "Why are you here?"

"To block some of your memories."

"But why?"

"Because you asked me." This guy was starting to sound like a broken record.

"But _why_ did I ask you?" I actually pleaded with him.

The man stared into my eyes and his fell immediately. I was just so sad looking that he couldn't handle it. "Ah…I-I can't do this." His shoulders slumped and he mumbled to himself, "Wade was so right."

"Who's Wade?" I had fallen to my knees, gazing up at him.

"Your second oldest friend." And then an awkward silence erupted between us.

Finally, after a few minutes, I said, "Look, what ever you plan to do, do it now. Please, before I change my mind." And just like before, I jerked forward. "You better hurry."

His eye glowed for a minute and I felt a little light headed. "Who's Nura Nal?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know." I said all 'ghetto-like'. (Author's Note: I apologize for the stereotype.)

"Who am I?" He asked, knowing what me anwer would be.

"Now that you mention it, who are you? Get outta my head! J'onn is gonna be _pissed_ if he finds you up here." Another jerk.

"Do you remember why you're up here?"

"Yeah," I pointed behind me with another jerk, not quite sure what I was pointing at. "Th-The war thingy. It was all like boom! And fwoosh and burn-y and electrocute-y, and…all that jazz." I explained with crazy hand jestures.

The man smiled. "Right. Well, it looks like my job's done."

Yet another jerk. "Why ain't I waking up yet?"

His smile faded. "I don't know. You should've by now."

I grabbed his blue spandex shirt. "Get me out of here! You came in, there has to be a way out."

"Andi-" He tried to calm me down.

"Wake me up!" I cried frantically, tears just starting to stream down my face with another jerk. "Wake me up!"

* * *

The moment the dome had disappeared, medical teams rushed into the area, searching frantically for any survivors that _might_ be there. Obviously, there were none. Two medics with a defibrillator ran over to me and hooked me up to the defibrillator.

"Clear!" One said, then he shocked me.

"Nothing." The other responded.

"Clear!" Another shock.

"Still flat."

"Clear!"

"Still nothing."

"Clear!"

For the fourth time, my body lifted and fell. Lifeless.

"Clear!!" Still nothing. "Damn it!" The medic threw the handles at the machine. "Damnitdamnitdamnit!"

And for the second time in my life, Death knocked at my door. How disappointed he will be when he realizes that I'm not going with him.

"Move!" A deep, commanding voice boomed, pushing the medic out of the way. J'onn J'onzz knelt down next to me. "I'm sorry about this." He plunged his right hand into the top left corner of my chest. He kept it there for a second before he removed it.

When his arm left, I shot up, gasping for air. I grabbed onto J'onn, him being the first thing I saw, and I held onto his arm ever so tightly. "I'M SORRY! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I shook my head and sobbed into his shoulder. "I promise, I'll never do it again. Oh, God I'm so sorry."

J'onn stroked my now long hair and, with a gentle demeanor etched into his face, he said, "Let's go home." He gathered me up, and flew off, leaving the gathering crowd of reporters behind.

* * *

He flew us up to the Watch Tower, where Wally, Bruce, John, Mr. Hawkins, basically everyone was waiting. When he had taken me into the infirmary, I looked down at my hands and practially screamed.

"J'onn! They melted to my hands! The rings melted to me!! J'onn get them off, get them off!!!!" I cried, frantically trying to grab the rings and tear them off my fingers.

He shushed me as he placed me on a bed. "No! I don't want to be quite!" I yelled at him. He laid one of his hands on my head, and I fell limp.

"What did you do?!" Mr. Hawkins went after him.

"Nothing. She's just passed out." J'onn reassured him.

"It's okay, Robert." Bruce came up and put his hand on the other man's shoulder. "J'onn knows what he's doing."

"I'm setting up some barriers in her mind." He started to explain. "It will hopefully help control her reaction to all of this. Based upon past experiences, she doesn't go through things well."

"Amen to that." Bruce mumbled to himself.

"Bruce, I need you to get those rings off her by any means possible. I don't care if you have to cut off her fingers, just do it." J'onn said to him as he kept my mind busy.

Thankfully, Bruce didn't have to resort to that. He was able to pry them off by using two forks to gently guide the rings off each of my fingers.

When he had gotten all four of them off, J'onn laid me back onto the bed, making sure that I would be comfortable when I would waken. He also covered me with a thin sheet, just in case I got cold.

"Let's let her rest, it's going to take a while for her brain to reboot. Especially in Safe-mode." J'onn turned to Mr. Hawkins. "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"She better be." He threatened before Wally took him away.

"Come on, Richard, why don't we get some coffee."

After Wally had taken my new father to the cafeteria, Bruce pulled J'onn away from the bed and said to him in a hushed tone, "You know J'onn, it's okay for you to care about her. It couldn't hurt for her to have another father-figure."

"Bruce, I can't go through that again. I don't know how I'd react if I got too close, and I lost her." This was a side of J'onn that Brucie had never seen before.

Bruce placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She just survived an explosion, J'onn. I think she'll be okay."

"You don't know that." J'onn was truly heart broken over me.

"J'onn, I have a little favor to ask. Can you watch out for her? Make sure that she doesn't get into too much trouble?"

"And how would I do that?"

"Now that you have a link to her head, just keep an eye on where she is, who she's with, and all that jazz. And when necessary, thow in a comment or two to keep her on the right path."

"She'll hate me for it."

"No she won't." Bruce gave him a reassuring smile. "Trust me."

J'onn sighed. "Fine."


	13. Chapter 13

_"Andi! Where are you?" Shannon State shouted throughout the house._

_I sat still in my cupboard under the sink. Maybe she forgot where this was. God, please make her forget, I prayed as I hugged my knees tightly to my chest._

_My breath caught in my throat when I heard her stumble into the kitchen. "Please, please, please." I whispered just loud enough so that only I was able to hear it._

_And that's when it happened. There was a thud just in front of my cupboard. I opened the door just a little to see what was going on, and I saw the body of Ms. State, lying on the floor, lifeless._

_I gasped loudly, and a face appeared in the opening. A man with short brown hair, deep chocolate eyes, and many indents and bumps covered his face. He put his glove covered finger to his lips. "Shh. It's going to be okay, Andi. I promise. You just have to stay quiet right now. Can you do that for me?" I nodded and he winked at me, and closed the cupboard door._

_I barely had time to process what the man said before Jameson came down the stairs, calling her name. "Shannon? Shannon? Oh my God! Shannon!" He came tearing into the kitchen, and I could hear him crying. "911? My girlfriend has a slit throat, I don't know what happened. Please send someone…" He must've left the room, because I didn't hear anything after that._

_Not until the Paramedics and the police came. They started talking gibberish about where she was cut, how much blood she lost, how long she's been dead, and all that. They were there for hours on end, and I kept quiet in my little piece of the house, just like the man told me. And no one noticed my absence until very late that night._

_Some policemen had come into the house and were questioning Jameson at the dining room table. "Mr. Vena," one of the two started. "What was Ms. State doing down in the kitchen?"_

_"Uh, she was looking for her six year-old foster daughter, Andi. Sometimes she hides, and it was her bed time." I heard him, and my face twisted into one of disgust. How could he lie like that?_

_"Have you seen her?"_

_"No. She must've found a new hiding spot."_

_"Mr. Vena, why don't you go with Officer Daley and he'll finish up the interview while I look for her."_

_"Thank you, I just want to know she's okay."_

_"I'll find her." Then Jameson and the officer must have left, because only one set of footsteps now roamed the house._

_I wasn't expecting him to find me, not even Jameson knew of my cupboard hiding place. But not even ten minutes after he started searching, he opened the cupboard doors and smiled when he saw me. The man was older, with a slightly grey mustache, and silver rimmed glasses._

_"Are you Andi?" I nodded. He took extreme notice that I was shivering. "Are you cold?" I nodded again. "Come here." He pulled off his jacket and wrapped me in it. He picked me up and carried me out of the house. _

_He was going to take me over to Jameson, but I whispered to him. "Please don't give me to him."_

_"Why not?" He whispered back._

_"He's a bad man."_

_The officer looked into my scared eyes and nodded. "Okay. I'm going to take you to the station, is that alright?"_

_I nodded and he carried me to his car._

My eyes slowly opened, glowing a brighter green than they ever had before. The ventilator connected to me kept my breathing at an even and normal pace, kind of like a sin curve. I turned my head from side to side, trying to figure out exactly where I was. I had no idea.

I groaned, lifting my lead filled arm, and pulled off the mask that was sending air to my lungs. I ripped the IV's out of my arm, and threw my legs off of the bed. I tried to stand up, but I fell back.

"Come on, Andi. Get up." I ordered myself. I pushed myself up again, only this time I was stable. I started to shuffle toward the doorway, yelling as I went. "Hello? Hello! HELLO?" I collapsed against the nearest wall, practically sobbing. "Anybody?"

I didn't hear anything, so I sat on the floor, now officially crying. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move, no one was around, and I had no idea where I was. But I could go to a place where there was someone. And there was only one person I wanted to see.

I shut my eyes tight, and concentrated, muttering to myself, "Teleport. Teleport, Andi, teleport." And just like that, I had disappeared and reappeared in a place where I was most welcome.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters were sitting in the living room of the top floor of the Baxter Building, watching/listening to the news.

"Do you think Andi's going to be okay?" Alicia asked him as the news anchor talked about the damage in Central Park for the thousandth time that day.

"Yeah, in fact, I know she's going to be okay." Not thirty seconds after he said that, did I land on the coffee table, effectively breaking it.

I cried out and pulled a few shards of broken glass from my side. "This is just not my day." I groaned.

"Andi!" Ben was kneeling next to me. "You alright kid?"

"I'll be better later." I pulled another piece of glass out. "Oh, this hurts. Mr. Grimm, do you think you could carry me to quarantine? I'm having trouble walking."

"Of course." He picked me up gently and tried to make my trip smooth.

"Be careful with her, Ben." Alicia followed us.

"Yes!" I groaned. "Please be careful with her." He placed me on the place I've come to know as my bed. "Hey, where's Johnny? I want to talk to him."

"He's with Reed and Sue." Alicia said in a soothing voice. "They're looking at plate patterns."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay, kid?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to heal up a little." I relaxed on the cot. "Thank you, Mr. Grimm."

"You sure you're alright, kid?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be cool. Tell me," I turned on my side and lifted up the shirt that I was wearing slightly. "How bad is it bleeding?"

"It's not."

"It stopped already? That's interesting." I pulled my shirt back down.

Ben's eyes widened as he saw mine glow completely green, and all of a sudden, everything about me was healed, and my hair was a foot longer. "You know, that's the strangest thing I've ever seen."

"What? What happened?" Alicia was looking around confused.

"Andi just healed herself."

"You know," I interjected. "I feel much better."

"Hey! We're home!" I heard Sue shout from the door.

The moment that voice hit my eardrum, I leapt up from the cot and ran for the front door. I saw Johnny's saddened face, dashed into his arms, and I gave him the tightest hug I had ever given him. Once he knew who was embracing him, he squeezed me back, keeping me as close as possible.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay." He whispered into my hair and then kissed my forehead.

"Please don't let me leave again!" I said into his shoulder.

"I won't." He held me tighter. "I promise."


	14. Chapter 14

"Thank you, Charmander." I whispered to Johnny later that night as we lay on the couch in the living room of the Baxter Building.

"For what, Bulbasaur?" He asked as he held me close to him.

I grabbed his arm kept it tight to my chest. "For being here."

He took a second to answer. "Am I the only one you have?" He said into my hair.

"No one else was there."

Johnny kissed the top of my head. "What do you mean?"

"…All I remember was dying. And I woke up, which is normal," I reassured him. "But when I did, no one was there."

"Nobody?"

I shook my head. "Not even my own brother."

"You have a brother?" His interest showed.

I nodded. "Yeah," I smiled at the fact that I could finally tell someone about him. "His name's Bruce."

"Bruce Hojem is a strange name." Johnny mumbled to himself.

I shook my head again. "That's not his name."

"His name isn't Bruce?"

"No, it's Bruce Wayne."

He sat up, which only meant that I had to sit up. "What?"

"My brother's Bruce Wayne." OHMYGOD! YOU BLEW THE SECRET! With my inner self screaming at me, I quickly spit out. "Please don't tell anyone."

"Okay, but I think it's kinda cool."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I mean, you're related to the richest guy on the planet, next to Tony Stark, of course."

Now it was my turn to question. "Who?"

"Tony Stark." I seriously didn't know. "Stark Industries? Weapons manufacturer?" I shook my head again. "Wow, now _that's_ interesting."

"What?"

"The two largest businesses in the world don't even know about each other. It just…seems odd."

"Well, it could just be me; I mean I literally work in the lowest department of the building."

"But shouldn't you be like, a co-owner or something?"

I didn't really get a chance to answer because Batman barged into the living space. "J'onn! Flash! Lantern! I found her!" He came over to us and pulled me away from Johnny.

"Hey!" We both shouted.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled at Batman.

"More like what are _you_ doing here?"

Wally ran in a second before and saw what was going on. "Hey, Bats, just cool down."

"Shut it, Flash." Green Lantern scolded. "What were you thinking?"

My face went hard and I pulled out of Batman's grasp. "I was scared. I woke up and no one was there! I was screaming for you! All of you!" I turned to the three men at the door. "But you weren't there." I turned back to Johnny. "I'm sorry, Johnny. Can I borrow this?" I took the black baseball hat off of the hat rack by the door and stormed out.

"Andi!" Batman started to follow me, but Flash grabbed his arm.

"Dude, let her go."

"I'll lose her again if I do!"

"No you won't. She'll come back. She's just a little mad."

"Well wouldn't you be too?" Johnny asked from the couch. "Who are you guys, anyway?"

Green Lantern looked at the two other men, J'onn nowhere to be seen. "We're her father-figures."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I stormed out as I put the hat on. I didn't get very far because I bumped into J'onn. "Get out of my way, J'onn."

"You need to calm down." His monotonous voice said.

"I just got to get out of here. Now please move."

He stepped aside but stopped me before I completely passed him. I looked up at him. "I…I won't be far away. If you need me, just call my name."

"That's a little creepy." I mumbled. "But, okay." And I continued on down the hallway. When I reached the elevator, I teleported, making it look like I walked into the door of the elevator. When it comes to acting like you're okay, you have to make it look like you know what you're doing.

"Stay safe." He whispered after me.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When I reappeared, I didn't know where I was. How is this place S.H.I.E.L.D.? It was a snow covered mountain. You know, even though this wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D., it still felt familiar. Strange, I know. I turned around in circles, trying to find something that wasn't a white blizzard. Doing a two-seventy and squinting my eyes, I saw a small dark box in the distance.

"What are you doing here?" A male's voice said to me from behind.

I spun around and came face to chest with a man about six four. I looked up and his angry, fiery eyes stared down at me. "Excuse me?" He had a strangely soothing voice.

"How did you get here?"

"Dude, I don't know. I just ended up here." He didn't seem pleased.

"Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Are you always this audacious?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

I think the man smirked, but since most of his face was covered from the wind, I couldn't really tell. "Come with me."

"Why should I?" I spat venom at the man.

"Because you'll freeze to death."

"I'm not that lucky."

The man chuckled. "What is your name?" He started walking towards the dark, what I'm assuming building.

I jogged to catch up to him. "My name's Andi. What's yours?"

"Henri."

Mary Poppins, it's that guy. The one Hayes always talks about. "So where're we going?"

"It's a secret. Now be quiet."

I rolled my eyes and kept with him. That little building grew very fast because in no time at all, we were standing in front of a large wooden door.

When the door didn't open, I said sarcastically. "So, do I have to knock or what?"

"Shush." He scolded. Not a second later, the large doors opened. And they revealed a dojo about the size of Wayne Manor. Yeah, I know. "Follow me." He took off the 'cowboy mask' and walked towards this throne where a man in about seventy-five pounds of robes sat. "Kneel."

"Sorry, dude. I don't kneel."

"Fine!" The man attacked me, throwing me across the room into the now closed doors.

"Dude!" I shouted at him, getting up from the floor. "So. Not. Cool!"

"Life doesn't care what's 'cool' or not." He came up and pushed me back down. "It doesn't care if you're ready!" Henri kicked me in the stomach.

My eyes started to glow green. "You are so going to regret that." He went in for another kick and I grabbed his foot. Without warning, I pulled him down to my level; I rolled onto my hands, and sprung up. My vines peeled off of my right arm and wrapped around Henri's neck.

"Well played."

"You obviously don't know who I am."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because if you did, you would've known that your attack was futile. I always win."

Henri smirked and the man on the throne spoke in broken English. "You are confidant, child. Let us see if you can last." He clapped his hands and twenty…ninjas? Well, they dropped from the ceiling and pointed their katanas at me.

I raised my hand. "Question. Who the fuck are you people?" Unconsciously, the vines came back to my arm and Henri stood up.

"We are the League Of Shadows." He gave me the smirk that every guy has: the douche smirk. "Welcome."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Faster!" Henri demanded two weeks later. My breath became shallower as I clashed the katana I was given with one of the ninjas. I know. I still can't get over that. Another thing I can't get over was the fact that I was dressed like one of them:

I had a sleeveless black wrap top on with a dark green trim, black pants that ended and bunched at the knees, and black boots that came up to my knees to conceal any of my legs. My arms were left bare except for black fingerless gloves. I didn't have a mask, save for the dark green cloth that was wrapped around the bottom of my face, covering from my nose down. But despite all that, I still wore the baseball hat I took from Johnny, with my long dark hair braided and pulled through the hole in the back.

But nonetheless, I was a freaking ninja!

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"You need to go faster."

"I can't go any faster!" I turned from the ninja to Henri. The ninja tried to sneak attack me, but I elbowed him, effectively breaking his nose.

"Yes you can. Just focus." He motioned for another 'henchman'.

"No! I'm done." I turned from him but he spun me around again.

"You're done when I say you're done." Henri grabbed my arm.

I glared at him so hard. "Don't play this game Ra's."

"What did you call me?" His grip on me only tightened.

"You heard me." I stared him down for a few seconds before I teleported out of his grip.

"What the-?" He looked around for me, but I wasn't there.

Before he had a chance to speak again, I reappeared behind him and my vines wrapped around his neck. He tried to rip them off, but I wasn't going to let them budge. "This time," I put a hand on his forehead and the back of his head. "Stay dead." And I snapped his neck. He was the first man I ever killed in cold blood. And it felt good.


	15. Chapter 15

"What do you think?" Bruce asked the next day.

I was speechless. Well, almost. "It's beautiful."

"I was hoping you'd like it." He had a huge smile on his face. "It's yours."

"No way!" My face broke out into a huge smile. "Are you kidding?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Nope. It's all yours."

Oh Kiefer Sutherland. It was all mine. My first car is a viper. A VIPER! Oh, and it was my color: dark green. It was perfect. I gave him an extremely tight hug. "I got to know. Why?"

He shrugged. "You need a mode of transportation that's not…you."

"But a Viper?" It's not that I didn't want the car, because I **wanted** the car.

"You deserve new."

"But a hundred thousand dollars new?"

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a tight squeeze. "You know, Gypsy, you may not think so, but you are worth every penny and more."

"Oh, Hayes." And that's when the guilt came in. "Uh, Hayes?"

"Yeah, Gypsy?" We took another stroll around the car as we waited for the dealer to come back for us to sign the papers.

"There's something I've got to tell you."

"What?"

"You know how you were telling me about those seven years you were away," I trailed off.

"Yeah…what about it?"

"You know those two weeks I was away?"

It hit him and he sighed. "You didn't." He sighed even more. "Jesus, Andi."

"Bruce," He turned away. "Bruce!" He turned back to me with a blan look on his face. "I didn't mean to go there Hayes, you've got to believe me. I just ended up there. But let me tell you something, they're gone."

Suddenly, Bruce got very worried. "What do you mean, 'they're gone'?" He lowered his voice.

"The LOS is gone." I said through clentched teeth. "I got rid of them."

"You did what?" He shouted, the people in the dealership turning to us.

"Keep. It. Down." I said in a calm voice, pulling him outside.

"How can I keep it down? My baby sister-Oh!" He groaned. "You committed murder!" He whispered. "I thought you knew better."

"I-I- I do! But…but Bruce-?"

"No 'buts' Andi. You knew better and yet you still did it. What would Robert think?" He looked at his watch and a grimace became etched on his face. "Speaking of which, I'm late for our coffee." He stormed back into the building. "Can we just hurry this up, please?"

"Here." The dealer handed him a list of papers.

"Finally." Bruce took a pen out of his coat pocket and started signing on all of the lines, skimming through the entire contract. "You need to sign here." He handed me the pen. "There." He gave the packet back and the dealer handed him the keys. He turned to me and dropped the keys in my hand. "You know, I'm disappointed in you."

Oh he did not just go there. "Brucie."

"What?"

"I'm so sorry."

He just gave me a sad smile. "I know." And he walked out.

I watched him leave, just like I had left so many people so many times. And an emotion I had never felt built up inside of me, and it just blew the lid off of everything else that had collected over the years. I teared my eyes from the door and to the Viper, played with the keys in my hand, and I knew what my next move was.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I hate the 'new car' smell. I don't know what it is, or why, but it disgusts me. Oops, missed another red light. Oh look, no cops, I thought as I drove at least seventy down the streets of Gotham the next day. Bruce would cry if he could see me right now. First, this car was a brand new 2008 Dodge Viper. Ninety-five thousand big Brucie spent on this bad boy. But I was in no mood to observe the rules of the road.

"Slow down now." A deep voice commanded in my head.

"Sorry, J'onn. Not in the mood." I thought back as I took a sharp turn onto Arizona Ave.

"Due it now, or I will stop the car." He threatened.

"Go ahead and try."

The car halted and was raised in the air. Oh, Bea Arthur. Out of nowhere, the large green martian that was J'onn J'onzz appeared in front of the floating car. "I warned you." This time, the words came from his mouth.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? Why can't everyone leave me alone?" I practically yelled at him as I honked the horn.

"Because we care about you."

That was such a load of crap. "Yeah, right."

"You don't think that Bruce cares? That Mr. Hawkins, Wally, John, any of us could care less about you? And I thought you were smart."

"If you guys really cared, you wouldn't have let me do it! You would have found a way to stop me!"

"You of all people know that _you_ can't be stopped."

"I can be gilt out of things."

"I'm not going to guilt into anything." He spat out 'guilt' as if it were venom.

I teleported to sit on top of the car. "What do you want, J'onn?"

"I want to make sure you don't get into an accident."

"Like I'd be any worse off if I _had_ had an accident. It's not like anything would happen." I mumbled the last part.

"I may be in your head, but sometimes I just don't know how you can think so little of yourself." He was disappointed. Great.

And then I completely switched topics. "Why is it you've never said my name?"

"Excuse me?"

"You've never said my name to me."

"Sure I have."

I shook my head. "No, you haven't. I'm just 'you'."

"Yes I did. When you were panicking, I called you Andrea."

"I don't remember that."

"Well I did. And why the sudden interest in what I call you?"

Oh no, I was thinking again. "A while ago, you said I reminded you of your daughter. Meaning that you would unconsciously treat me like her. But you've never said my name."

J'onn was speechless. He actually had to think up a response to that, "Well, I don't want to think of you like her. I might get attached."

"So what? We're friends right? I mean, we did the whole 'mind-meld' thing."

"What I meant was, I didn't want to act like another father to you. You don't need a fifth one."

I smiled at him. "One can never have too many father-figures." I lept off of the car towards him, forcing him to catch me. He was shocked when he realized that I was hugging him. "Thanks, J'onn." I smiled up at him and teleported back to the car, and then I teleported myself and the car to the mansion.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A knock came at Wayne Manor's large oak door a few hours later. "Yeah, I'm coming!" Bruce yelled when another round of knocking happened. He opened the door and stared down at my sad dark eyes. "What?"

I tossed the keys to him. "Can you hold onto that for me?"

"Why?"

I shook my head. "I'm not ready for it." Bruce only nodded and I teleported away.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"So this is it, huh?" Johnny asked as we sat on the couch in the living room alone.

"Yup."

He nodded in silence. After a second, "You know, this is going to sound really corny, but I'm never going to forget you."

"There's no way I'm ever gong to forget you." I turned to look at him, and I met his amazing blue eyes. "You're my first boyfriend, and no one-"

"-Forgets their first." He finished, and it only made me blush. We sat in silence for about four minutes before he said, "So what are you going to do now?"

I shook my head. "I think I might try to do some good. That doesn't include killing." I added the last part and it made him smile. "What about you?"

"Who knows?"

"Maybe you'll get married."

Johnny scoffed. "Yeah, that'll be the day."

"Hey, you never know." He gave a slightly drepressed smile. "Charmander, you'll get married, trust me. And you'll even have a couple kids along the way." His smile didn't fade. "I promise. And you better call me when you do."

He smiled for real. "I promise."

"I'll see you later, okay?" I grabbed his hand, gave it a quick squeeze, and stood up.

"Yeah." He got up with me and walked me to the door. I opened the door and just before I left, "Andi." He stopped me. "Just, one more thing?"

He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in for one last kiss. Instantly, I wrapped my arms around his neck and his arms snaked around my waist, pulling me as close as possible. When we needed air, we stayed in that extremely tight hug.

"I love you, Johnny."

"I love you too, Andi." We pulled apart, and I left.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"This places looks…nice." I said as I walked through the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Thanks. We try." Fury said monotonously as he led me.

He started talking about nothing and I took a good look around, seeing people sitting in desks, training in gyms. One person especially caught my attention: She was a middle aged Native American with her hair in two braids, and dressed in a black and yellow spandex suit. I don't know why she caught my attention, but she did.

"What do you think?"

"What?" I turned back to Fury. "Sorry, didn't catch that."

"What do you think about being partnered with Black Widow here?"

And then I saw her: a tall pale woman with hair so red it made her look even paler, and an outfit so black and tight…yeah.

I shook my head. "I don't like you."

"I don't like you either."

"Good." Fury interrupted. "At least we're all in agreement."

"Your hat is stupid." She said. No one makes fun of John – my hat.

"L'oréal number 77." Black Widow made a step for me and Fury put an arm up.

"Now ladies, please. Play nice."

"You're dressed like ninja dyke."

"You have more plastic in your body than Joan Rivers."

"Okay," Fury kept us at arms length away. "This isn't going to work. Arbora, come with me. Romanov," He pointed at her. "No."

He grabbed my arm and started dragging me away. "You know what?" I ripped my arm out of his. "This was a mistake."

"Damn right it was." Romanov said under her breath.

I turned around and stared at her. "That's one."

"One?"

"Three, and you're out." And just for dramatic effect, I teleported out of there.


	16. Chapter 16

_Early November of that year_

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Trina asked me on Thursday.

"Yes. Now get out of here, Mr. Hawkins is waiting." I shoved her out the door, and turned to the ten year old standing awkwardly in the living room. "Hello, Kevin." He was Trina's nephew.

"Hi." The short kid said.

"Are you ready for the most epic night of your life?" Yeah, I'm not that great with kids.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so."

"All right then, let's get started." I headed straight to the kitchen of the Hawkins home and pulled out a three pound pack of Twizzlers. I headed back to the living room and showed Kevin two movies. "You have two choices: _Die Hard_ or _Starship Troopers_. Bruce Willis or NPH. I know, it's a tough choice."

"I haven't heard of either of those."

Kevin, you broke my heart. "Ouch." Entire night: ruined. "Okay, how about I call Virgil down here and you guys can pig out on Twizzlers and play video games?"

"Yes!" Kevin shouted and he jumped onto the couch.

"Hey, Virg!" I called up the stairs.

"Yeah, Andi?"

"Kevin wants to play video games!"

Virgil ran down the stairs a second later. "Yes!"

"I thought you would be happy." I smiled at the duo on the couch. I stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room for a minute, just watching them. This is was normal is, and it was perfect. No matter what people say about normal being boring, it is the most perfect thing in the world.

And then my cell phone rang. "Hojem."

"Hey, Andi. It's Johnny."

"Hey! What's up?"

"Igotagirlpregnant." He spat out in one word.

So much for normal. "What?"

"I got my girlfriend pregnant."

"Why did you call me?" Oh God, please no.

"We're getting married."

"When?"

"Three hours. We're eloping."

"No!" Shit, did I say that out loud?

"No?"

"No! You can not elope! Look, I'm coming over right now." I hung up. "Hey Virg-"

"Yeah, we're cool here." I smirked and made sure I was out of Kevin's sight before I teleported back to the Baxter Building.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I reappeared in the living room of the Baxter Building. There was only Johnny and nameless girl number one sitting on the couch.

"Hey Johnny."

"Hey Andi."

Time for the awkward and obvious question. "Is this her?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Frankie." She smiled and held out her hand. I just looked at it and nodded.

"Awesome. I don't do handshakes. Sorry. So, three hours?" The two of them nodded. "Give me three days." Johnny was about to say something in rebuttal. "I can give you a real wedding in three days."

"Really?" Frankie perked up.

"Yeah. But we have to start right now."

"Oh! Okay." Frankie jumped up from the couch and dragged Johnny out the door, following me.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Yeah, that's a dozen red roses with one white rose in the middle…yeah a white ribbon around it…tied in a bow, yeah. That's awesome, I'll pick it up in twenty minutes." I clicked off the phone and lay my head against the wall of the church. Seventy-two hours. I had been awake for seventy-two hours. While everyone else slept for the night, I was up making sure that Frankie's dress was being tailored and that the cooks knew exactly what to make, and that the priest was free on Sunday. All of that I could deal with, but what really hurt was when Frankie asked me to be a bridesmaid.

"Hey, you okay?" Ben came over to me, his tux on for the second time that year.

"Yeah, I'm fine." No. No. No. No…No.

"You don't look okay."

"I just need a nap." I tried to reassure him, but tears that weren't voluntary started flowing like Niagara Falls. "I'm so tired."

"It's okay, sweetie. This whole thing is almost over."

"Yeah…" I trailed off for a second. "Almost over." I pushed off of the wall. "I have to go get the flowers."

I was about to leave when Ben held my arm. "Kid, can you promise me something?"

"Sure." Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop crying.

"Don't kill yourself over this." Thanks Ben. I appreciate it, really.

"It's too late." I chuckled sadly as I walked out the door.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Now repeat after me: I, Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm," Father Nicholas St. James started Johnny off two hours later. I stood next to Frankie, my heart shattering as I heard Johnny repeat the Father, but you'd never know it.

"I, Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm…"

"Take you Francine Anita-Marie Raye,"

"Take you Francine Anita-Marie Raye…"

"To be my wife."

"To be my wife." Johnny didn't need the preacher to continue. "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love…" He paused and smiled at Frankie, his eyes glowing. "…and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."

Father St. James smiled and closed the Bible. "I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Johnny smiled and leaned in towards Frankie. When they kissed, the only six spectators (excluding the Father) applauded: It was Reed, Sue, Ben, Alicia, myself and Bruce. Brucie only came because I asked him to. He was paying for it, why shouldn't he come?

After those two kids walked back down the aisle Reed, Sue, Ben, and Alicia followed them, while I stayed behind to thank the Father.

"Thank you so much for doing this on such short notice."

"Oh it's no problem. I was happy to do it." We gave each other a smile and he went to prepare for the mass later that night.

I turned around and stared down the almost empty aisle. Bruce was the only one still inside the church.

"You okay Gypsy?"

I was about to lie to him, but then I decided against it. "No. But that's okay, I'll get over it."

And then Frankie came back into the church, bouquet in hand, and a smile on her face. "Andi," She came up to me and handed the flowers over to me. "I want you to have the bouquet. As a thank you, for everything."

I smiled. "Thank you, Frankie."

"You're welcome." She blushed and went back outside.

"How do you feel now?" Bruce asked mockingly.

"Even worse. Come on, everyone's waiting." We walked out of the church to where the five were gathered. "If everyone will just grab hands or shoulders, I can take us to the mansion." Bruce placed his hand on my shoulder, Reed touched his shoulder, Sue grabbed his and Alicia's hand. Alicia grabbed Ben's hand, and Ben touched Johnny's shoulder. Johnny took Frankie's hand, and Frankie grabbed my hand. I closed my eyes, focused on the dining room of the mansion, and teleported.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Goodnight, you guys." I said to the now six people living in the Baxter Building several hours later.

All of them in turn hugged me goodbye. "Thank you." "It was a beautiful ceremony."

Johnny was the last to hug me. "_Mòran taing_, Andi."

I smiled into his shoulder. "_Se do bheatha_." I gave him a peck on the cheek and I teleported back to the mansion, Bruce was waiting for me there.

He was sitting on the main staircase, and when I appeared next to him, he didn't say a word, he just handed the keys over.

"Why?" I asked as I moved the keys from one hand to another.

"I'm kinda hoping it'll cheer you up." He said sheepishly.

"Hayes, I just helped the love of my life get married to a woman that wasn't me. I'm not going to be cheered up." It took three days, but the tears finally rose and I started blubbering like broken-hearted sixteen year old in the eighties.

Bruce played the big brother and he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. "It's okay." He consoled whilst rubbing my arm, trying to comfort me.

"He loved me! He loved me and he did this!" I sobbed into his side, hugging him tightly.

"I know, I know."

We sat there for hours, him just holding me, and me acting a fool. But he didn't care. After so long, Brucie asked, "Do you want to stay here tonight?"

I didn't answer, I was already asleep. Bruce smiled, picked me up, and carried me to my old room. Like a parent to a child, he tucked me in, and said goodnight.


	17. Chapter 17

"Fury," I growled at the man for the umpteenth time in a row. "How many times do I have to tell you? The answer is, 'NO'!"

"But this is an opportunity of a lifetime! Do you know how many people get asked _personally_ to join this little crusade of mine?"

Oh shut up. "Against what? What exactly are you fighting for?"

"What are we fighting for?" Natasha appeared in the little room that Fury and I were debating in. "How about equality for all mutants, mercenaries, everyone that's different? Or maybe peace between all of these silly feuding groups like those X-Men and that Brotherhood." Black Widow spat with venom. Sorry about the pun.

"Your little family squabbles are none of my business."

And then Fury sighed. "I really didn't want to have to do this." He nodded his head and Natasha 'quick-drew' a gun and shot me.

I was jerked slightly forward. "Well that was pointless."

"Was it?"

I looked down at the hole in my stomach and finally understood that I wasn't healing. "What the fuck did you do to me?" I grabbed my stomach and fell to the floor. Why is the hole getting bigger?

He knelt down in front of me and Natasha gave him the gun. "It's this nifty little gun of mine. See, it kills people like you."

"What you mean 'people like me'?" I hissed through my teeth.

"Mutants."

Anger ran white hot within my veins. "I…am not…a MUTANT!" I launched myself at him, only to be pushed away like a rag doll.

"Look I don't care what you are. Are you in or out?"

"Colonel, just leave her. She's not worth it." Natasha said coolly, inspecting her nails.

He sighed, his patience wearing thin. "Arbora," Yeah, he still didn't know my name. "I don't want to have to shoot you again."

"What the hell is this?" A tall-ish man (well, taller than me) demanded. He had a nice dark head of hair, fantastically mysterious eyes, a stylish goatee, and a nice suit. Dolce, I think.

"This is none of your business, Stark." Stark? As in Tony?

"Yes it is; that's my gun." He ripped the pistol-looking firearm out of Fury's hand. "Are you okay?" He knelt down next to me, pushing Fury and Natasha away.

"Do I look okay?" Oh real nice Andi, all this guy ever did was be nice to you and all you do is throw sarcasm in his face.

"Come on, kid." He picked me up and started to take me out of the room.

"Put her down, Stark." Fury stepped in front of us. "We're not done with her." And then, as if he felt like he needed to explain himself, "She hasn't given us an answer."

"You think this is okay-?"

"Fine! Fine, fine, motherfucking fine!" I shouted at Fury. "Are you happy now?"

"Quite."

Stark rolled his eyes and stalked away. "You shouldn't have said that." He mumbled to me as he took me to the infirmary of the helicarrier that is S.H.I.E.L.D.

"And why is that?" Oh jeez, I'm asphyxiating: there's blood spilling out of my mouth.

"Because…" He trailed off slightly as he put together a syringe. "Now you're Fury's little lap dog. You may not know it, but you are at his beck and call." He took the prepared, slightly green tinted, solution and injected into my neck. "Your powers will be back on in a few seconds."

"How'd you know I was in there?" That's right Andi, don't say 'thank you', just move right along. You can be a real bitch sometimes.

He shrugged. "I don't know. There was like this voice in the back of my mind, telling me to go to that room." He shook his head sheepishly. "That sounds stupid."

"No it doesn't. Trust me." And then I looked at the suit. Barney Stinson would've cried. "I am really sorry about that, by the way."

"It's…okay."

"Let me pay for it."

He scoffed. "A kid like you couldn't afford it."

"Uh huh. Let me guess, it being a new Dolce, modern cut, single breast pocket," I moved the jacket slightly so that I could see the inside. "And being fully lined, I'm thinking about sixteen hundred dollars."

Stark was impressed. "You know your suits."

"You're about a what? Forty-one regular?" I sat up and gave him a quick look over. This had to be Tony Stark. A sixteen hundred dollar suit is not one that can be soiled with blood and be 'okay'.

He chuckled, surprised. "Yeah." He held out his hand. "Tony Stark."

"Arbora." I shook his hand.

"Please tell me that's not your real name."

I smirked at him, but he obviously didn't see it. You know, me being dressed as a 'ninja-dyke' and all. "It's not. I would tell you my real name, but then Fury might hear, and then I'd be available." I waved my hand and a business card came out of nowhere. I grabbed it out of the air and slipped it into the single breast pocket. "I'll see you on Thursday."

"What do you mean?" He pulled out the card.

"For your appointment." I winked at him and teleported home.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A tango. That's the only way I can really describe it. The swift, confident, and slightly sexual walk came toward my desk that Thursday evening.

Without looking up from my paperwork, I asked, "Do you always walk like that?"

"Why do you ask?" Ah, the familiar voice that was Mr. Stark.

"Because you walk like you're going to bed someone."

He smirked and chuckled. "That's not what I'm here for. You said, 'Thursday' so here I am."

I smiled. "So I did." I finally looked up at him. "I see you got the suit."

"Yes, thank you. It fits perfectly."

"You're welcome. Now," I got up from my desk and started walking towards him. "If you follow me, I will be more than happy to take you to Mr. Wayne."

"Only if you tell me your name, Arbora."

Oh, this game again. "Andi. My name is Andi."

I could hear him smile. "Let's go meet Mr. Wayne."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"You know, Brucie," I started at dinner that night. It wasn't anything complicated, just a couple turkey sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. "I think you should go for it."

"And why's that?"

"Well, first off, it would make you two the richest guys on the planet." Bruce, Mr. Fox, Tony, and a pretty red head named Miss Potts chuckled. "Secondly, it would give you the most say in what goes on in the world. And I know you guys want the world to be safe, and everyone to play nice." Tony raised his eyebrow at me as if to say, 'how do you know what I want?'. "I watched CNN the day you made your 'big announcement'."

"Well that explains it."

"Not really." Miss Potts spoke up. "How do you know what Mr. Wayne wants? Aren't you just an employee? That works in the basement. What are you doing here anyway?" Ouch. She's a feisty ginger bitch, isn't she?

Bruce cleared his throat. "She happens to be my favorite employee. If you have a problem with that, then you can leave, and this meeting will be over."

"What Mr. Wayne is trying to say," Mr. Fox interrupted, attempting to keep them from leaving. "Is that he respects Miss Hawkins' opinion as much as he does mine. And that he would appreciate it if you respected it as well." Way to play Lucius.

"Well, Miss Hawkins, was it?" I nodded. "This may come out as strong, but I would trust you with my life."

I grinned at Tony. "Mr. Stark, I would trust you with mine."

"Well that's enough for me." Bruce smiled. "Mr. Stark, welcome to Wayne Enterprises." The two billionaires shook hands.

"Mr. Wayne, welcome to Stark Industries."


	18. Chapter 18

_Eighteen years later_

Johnny was sitting the living room, playing a racing video game with Franklin, Reed and Sue's son. "Left left left left left." He mumbled to himself as he swerved into a wall, effectively crashing and losing the game.

"Ha! I win again." Franklin teased him.

"Yeah, you just wait. I'll get you." They stared at each other for a second before Sue came in, a phone in her hand.

"Uh, Johnny, there's someone on the phone for you."

He got up from the couch and grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Johnny, its Wade."

Johnny sighed softly. "Hi, Wade."

"Uh, do you think you can come down to the house for a little while?"

"Why?"

"Cause Andi's in a bad spot and she," Wade whispered the last part. "She needs you, dude."

"I…I-I can't, Wade."

"Johnny, come on-"

"Tell her I'm sorry." And Johnny hung up.

"Who was that Uncle Johnny?" Franklin asked from the couch.

He shook his head. "No one."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Wade pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it for a second.

"He's not coming, is he?"

He sighed. "No."

"I didn't think he would."

Wade tossed the phone onto the couch and sat next to me on the staircase of my house in Dakota. "He'll come around-"

"No he won't."

Wade sighed at me and put his arm around my shoulders. "Look, Lucius is going to be coming by soon, then Wally and Linda, Hannibal, Virgil, Ben, and Tony. We're all here for you."

"Not everyone."

"Johnny's just being a douchebag, okay?"

"Don't call him that."

"Well he is." Wade defended himself. "And as soon as Lucius gets here, I'm gonna go, and tell him off."

"Wade, don't." I grabbed and held onto his arm. "Please don't yell at him."

"Why shouldn't I? You have been there for him every time something shitty happened. Why can't he be here for you?"

"Mr. Wilson has a point Miss Wayne." Lucius Fox came through the front door and sighed as he saw how morose I looked. "You don't look good."

"You don't look too hot yourself." That's it Andi, focus on someone else's problems instead of your own. That's totally healthy. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing."

"Don't lie to me Lucius."

He took a deep breath. "My wife died."

"Oh, Lucius." I got from the stairs and hugged the older man. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Just don't make me drink alone." He let me go and pulled out a bottle Scotch.

"I would never do that to you. Wade, come on." I started to lead the two men into the kitchen.

"You drink?" Wade asked.

"Only with him." They sat down at the table while I grabbed three short, but wide glasses. "So what are we drinking?" I sat with them and passed around the glasses.

Lucius opened the bottle and filled the three glasses. "Nineteen year old scotch. Does it really matter what label?"

"Not in my book."

Lucius raised the first glass. "To Jeanette. My wife, my partner, my best friend. I love you." And he took the first drink.

"That was beautiful." Wade patted the man on the shoulder.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Fox." I said, taking a sip.

"It's not your fault."

"Yeah it is. I never should have asked you to help me out." I drained my glass. Smooth.

"But I wanted to help you. You needed me." Lucius poured us another round.

Wade sipped his. "You need a lot of people, don't you, Andi?"

"Wade if you don't shut up, I'm going to hit you."

"What's going on, Andi?" Lucius asked.

"It's nothing."

"Richie left her." Wade chimed in.

"Wade!"

"He left you? That bastard."

"Don't call him that."

"What happened?" Lucius inquired.

"Well-"

"Wade, don't even!"

He glared at me. "He got grey hair."

"Excuse me?"

"He left Andi, because he got a little grey hair. What kind of self respecting guy does that?"

"Seriously?"

"Everybody, shut up!" I cried, holding my head. "Just shut up."

"I'm sorry, Sweetie." Lucius put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

Oh Green Mile, here come the waterworks. "I thought we were it. I thought I had it, that special thing that you and Jeanette had. I was so close." I sobbed, and Mr. Fox just pulled me close to him. "I was so close!"

"I know, I know." He cooed as I drained my glass again. He just filled it up again.

I didn't need to be told twice. I drank that glass dry.

"You know, I don't think her drinking is such a good idea." Wade tried to reason with us.

"Wade, shut it. You haven't gone through an ordeal lately. You and Storm are happy. Just let me have this one, okay?"

Wade knew that he couldn't fight me when I begged. "Like I have a choice."

Four hours later, the large bottle of scotch was empty, Lucius and I were completely trashed, and Wade was still nursing his second glass.

"You know…you know," I was saying to Lucius. "I have half a mind to tell him off."

"You should." He agreed.

"I mean, I've been there for everything."

"Yes you have."

Wade was just sitting there, shaking his head at us. He was basically there to babysit us.

"You know what," Lucius came up with an idea. "You should go to him. And give him a piece of your mind."

At the time, that seemed like the best idea in the world. "You know, Lucius, you're right. I'm gonna talk to that boy right now." I started to get up when Wade sat me back down.

"Uh, Andi, it's two in the morning, why don't you talk to him tomorrow, huh? You know that way you can come up with a _really_ good speech."

I stopped and thought about it for a few minutes. But I shook my head, "No, no I think I'm gonna do it now." And before he could say anything in rebuttal, I teleported away.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Johnny was sitting in his kitchen, nursing his second beer. Ever since that call from Wade he hasn't been able to really focus on anything. When he usually had trouble sleeping, two beers would do the trick. But it didn't seem to be working tonight. It's gotta be Andi, he thought to himself as he took another sip, she seems to be the only one that can do this to me. He finished his beer and was about to get up when I appeared in front of him.

"Look," I started off fierce. "I have been there for you every time you needed me. I gave you a wedding, I was there the day your daughter was born, I gave your wife a funeral, I never turned you down when you needed me; and yet, the one time I needed you, you can't be bothered. Well fine, if that's the way you want to be, then that's fine with me. Because I don't need you anymore. Well? Are you going to say anything?"

Calmly, Johnny got up and walked over to me. "Andi, the reason I didn't come over, is because I would've done this." And Johnny being Johnny, grabbed my face and brought it to his. And me being me, I only brought myself closer to him by wrapping my arms around his neck.

He placed his hands on my waist, and they traveled up my back, all the while our lips were still slowly and sensually moving together, making this moment last as long as possible. When the need for breath became prominent, we finally moved away from each other, but only so much so that we could look at the other. Johnny mumbled something incoherent, I nodded, and we made our way through the living space to his room.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Johnny's alarm clock buzzed at an un-Godly decibel the next morning. I groaned loudly and covered my head with one of the pillows before Johnny hit it and it shut off. He turned over and wrapped his arm around my waist, spooning behind me.

"Good morning." He whispered in my ear.

"What's so good about?"

"Well last night wasn't so bad."

"Uh uh, no. Last night didn't happen." I sighed as I threw the blanket off of me.

"But-"

"No." I got out of bed and started searching through the dirty clothes on his floor, picking out a pair of blue basketball shorts and a grey wife-beater. "Last night meant nothing. I was drunk, you were drunk…"

"I wasn't drunk."

"You were tipsy. Look, let's just forget this ever happened, okay?" And I teleported home.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

When I arrive home, Mr. Fox was sleeping on the couch and Wade was sitting in the chair, awaiting my arrival. "Walk of Shame outfit?"

"Actually, a 'walk of shame' outfit implies the clothes of the night before. These are obviously not those."

"So what happened to them?" Wade asked, already knowing the answer.

I nervously cleared my throat and moved my head from side to side, implying exactly what he was thinking. "Yeah."

Wade rolled his eyes and sighed. "Andi…"

"Don't even start with me, Wade."

"Andi, you know better." He got up from his chair and started toward me. "A rebound is not the way to go."

"Well it's the way that worked, and that's all I care about. If you have a problem, take it up with someone else."

And then he completely switched topics. "So I take it you're not going back in the fall."

"Obviously not."

"Then where are you going to go?"

I shrugged. "Back to Gotham. Back to the University, that's where I belong."

"But that's not where you want to be."

I got fed up with him. "Don't you get it, Wade? It doesn't matter what I want! I wanted a normal life, look at me now; I wanted to keep in touch with Virgil and Sharon, I hadn't spoken to them in fifteen, sixteen years; I wanted a dog, never got one; I wanted a nice life with a loving husband, look where that got me. Dakota Union is just not in the cards for me; maybe next hand. I've learned to get over it, maybe you should too."

He stood there speechless as he watched me head up the stairs, disappointment etched all over his face. He sighed, "What happened to you, kid?"


	19. Chapter 19

Andi Hojem Series (In Order):

1. Intelligence Doesn't Mix With Nature – Static Shock

2. The First Summer – Fantastic Four

3. The Second Summer – X-Men Evolution

4. The Third Summer – Iron Man

5. College Of Nightmares – Blade

6. The Beginnings Of A Long Life – X-Men Evolution (Coming Soon)

7. I Promise To Be Careful – Fantastic Four

8. Lives Of The Children – Fantastic Four (Coming Soon)

9. Inheritances – Batman Beyond (Coming Soon)

10. Epilogue – Static Shock (Coming Soon)


End file.
